SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): The Milton Public Works Department hosted two community meetings to lay new plans for the city’s recycling and waste management.
The goal of the Feb. 26 and 27 meetings was to develop an implementation strategy with residents that identifies the best options for collection before presenting it to the Milton City Council.
The city’s Recycling and Solid Waste Management Plan won’t immediately change haulers.
For a couple of residents at the input sessions, a hauler that consistently picks up their garbage once a week is all they are looking for from the city.
The city last developed a 10-year plan in 2008 with ordinances laying out requirements for third-party garbage collection. Local laws require haulers to offer residential customers curbside recycling and yard waste collection, excluding glass, and submit a quarterly payment to the city for infrastructure maintenance. City staff reported collecting $189,000 from haulers in fiscal year 2023.
The city’s permitted residential haulers include Custom Disposal, Legacy Disposal Services, Henry Edward Kincaid, Red Oak Sanitation, Seegreen Services, TNT Junk & Trash Removal, Waste Management and Waste Pro. Some of the haulers also service commercial clients.
A few residents in attendance at the Feb. 27 meeting were surprised to learn that city ordinances require licensed haulers to offer curbside recycling and yard waste collection. Some shared anecdotes about canceled service and using facilities like Keep North Fulton Beautiful’s Sandy Springs Recycling Center.
Milton Sustainability Advisory committee Francia Lindon said she now takes her recycling to a friend’s house that receives the service after her company stopped collecting.
Bill Edmundson, a resident along one of the city’s gravel roadways, said his hauler informed him they would be stopping waste collection service to his home after 20 years. Edmundson said he’s shocked the hauler is still licensed, considering they stopped picking up recyclables three years ago.
Other residents say they have experienced no issues with their recycling and waste haulers, but those with accounts of discontinued recycling constitute enough of a trend that the city is reconsidering its ordinances and opening the floor to resident input.
A residential survey last fall, exclusive to recycling and solid waste management, showed 40 percent of respondents preferring the city manage one contract with one service provider. Another 32 percent preferred keeping the open market for haulers.
Courtesy: www.appenmedia.com
