The Bourbon Town Council heard Clerk-Treasurer Kim Berger say she has sent out trash and recycling proposals to six companies. Bids are to be received by October 7th and will be opened during the October 11th town meeting.
She said a few of the companies have questioned the recycling requirement they currently have, which is every other week. Berger said apparently the cost of recycling continues to increase and the revenue from the commodities continues to drop. A couple of the providers asked about not providing door-to-door recycling and instead having a location in town to drop off recyclable materials. She said some of the companies don’t currently offer recycling services and warned of an increased price in the trash hauling for recycling services.
The Bourbon Town Clerk noted that their contract with Republic Services ends December 31, 2022.
Councilman Les McFarland said he had concerns with a drop-off location because some people will just dump trash or anything in the bins which in turn contaminates the who load.
Berger said the town has experienced lots of issues with the recycling toters because people are using them to put all kinds of things in them that do not belong, so it ends up contaminating the whole load, and then it ends up going to the landfill instead. She said some residents are putting their trash in the recycling bins because the trash pick-up service in Bourbon isn’t being picked up on a regular basis by Republic Services. Education would be another thing to work on, so citizens know what is recyclable.
