A single hauler for us all

A recent Facebook post by Keep Forsyth County Beautiful got my wheels turning about the growing traffic on Forsyth County roadways, trash trucks, and single hauler contracted waste services.  The post that got my wheeling turning was this: “One of every six trucks in the U.S. is a garbage truck. Their yearly loads would fill a line of trucks stretching halfway to the moon.”  The moon is 238,900 miles away!

While that number may be hard to grasp, consider these other examples.  That’s the same as covering the state of Texas two and a half times, or burying more than 990,000 football fields under six-foot high piles of waste!  How is this possible? Well, according to the EPA, the average American generates about 4.4 pounds of garbage a day, or 29 pounds per week, or 1,600 pounds per year.  These numbers do not even factor in industrial or commercial waste and trash.

For a number of years I have been in favor of a single waste hauler in my community.  After all, we have like three or four days of trash pickup on our streets.  It looks gross, creates litter, attracts wildlife, and has trucks driving up and down on our streets almost all week, which presents safety issues, increases noise levels, and impacts air quality.  A single hauler system is more efficient, provides better service, is cost-effective, and is better for roads and safety.  So why don’t all communities have one hauler?  Well some do already.  Others maybe haven’t thought of it or have been faced with opposition from those who live there.

Education is the key to truly understanding why a single hauler contracted system is good for a community.  So here comes the educating.

Advantages:

• Cost Reduction and Waste Services. The Georgia Recycling Coalition has advised, “If you have an organized HOA, you can usually negotiate a fair, reasonable (and sometimes lower) rate(s) and can contract to keep them for an extended period of time (fewer increases); OR expanded services can be negotiated in a package (haulers want density to economize on fuel, etc.)  Some will even do appliance and other bulky materials amnesty days for contracted communities (basically you get to leverage guaranteed houses with value added services).”

• Trash Trucks & Nuisance Reduction.  According to the Forsyth County Engineer’s Department, our roads are designed to handle the weight and frequency of truck traffic; however, reducing the load on the streets would be of benefit.  Obviously, less trucks means less street and infrastructure damage, as well as improves residential safety through decreased traffic.  If a community has six haulers and goes to only one, they reduce their truck traffic by 80%!

• Community and Pollution.   Having one hauler improves a community’s appearance and aesthetics, and the proper recovery of materials that can become litter.  Per the Clean Air Task Force, projected health outcomes from diesel soot in Georgia annually are 213 premature deaths, 38,462 work loss days, and 9,046 cases of asthma exacerbation, 421 cases of acute bronchitis, and 9,499 respiratory symptoms.

• Recycling.  Increases quantity of recyclables diverted from the landfill, improves accuracy and manageability of recycling data and reporting; leaf waste collection can be included; and increases revenue from marketed recyclables, which could possibly be passed along in savings to residents by haulers.    

Disadvantages and barriers:

• Some increase in oversight and program involvement required as compared to the low-level of involvement in the individual subscription system;
• Small haulers may not be able to or desire to provide a comprehensive waste and recycling program, hence they will be limited from the competition;
• Public resistance to change and uninformed, negative media can hinder the process.

• City of Gainesville:  The Solid Waste Division is responsible for coordinating the City's trash, yard waste and recycling programs as well as sponsoring environmentally-friendly cleanup projects in the Gainesville community.

• City of Alpharetta:  The City of Alpharetta provides sanitation and recycling services to all of its residents through a contract with a single hauler.
• City of Roswell:  Garbage pick-up and recycling services are offered by the City of Roswell.
• Gwinnett County:  Solid waste districts are serviced by multiple contracted haulers per zone. 

So why hasn’t Forsyth County made the change?  Well, Forsyth County has discussed zoning the county for trash and recycling.  According to a source, “An amendment to the current county solid waste was presented to the county commissioners this summer. Several revisions and discussion were held before the amendments were tabled indefinitely.  The ten-year update to the county solid waste plan will begin in 2013 at which time the entire plan will be reviewed. One of the many issues that will be considered in the update is the infrastructure strain and safety concerns of having multiple haulers in a neighborhood or on the same street. This can be a very complex issue to deal with in local government and is likely to require multiple steps and lots of time. However, neighborhoods and HOAs have the ability to make their own agreements and rules concerning solid waste and this is seen as a positive step to the overall good of the county.”  [Emphasis added].

The cost generally increases when a town zones or contracts a single hauler.  Here’s what residents in the towns noted above are paying for garbage and recycling services:*

• City of Gainesville:  $32.10 pays for twice a week (except holidays) garbage removal, a landfill fee (for garbage and once a week curbside trash removal) and a recycling fee (for once a week recycling service).
• City of Alpharetta:  $17.65 per month for a 68-gallon container or $18.83 per month for a 95-gallon container.  Customers have the option of receiving another garbage cart from hauler with an additional charge of $6.47 per month.
• City of Roswell:  Standard service (up to 3 cans per week) - $22 per month (incl. recycling) or premium service (up to 6 cans per week) - $33 per month (incl. recycling).
• Gwinnett County:  The 2013 base fee of $18.65 per month includes weekly trash pickup of solid waste, bulky items (furniture, mattresses, etc.), white goods (stoves, refrigerators, etc.), and 35 kinds of recyclables. Additional fees include charges for optional services such as yard waste collection service, additional trash carts, one-time yard waste pickups and other elective services, and delivery costs for additional carts or bins. The base fee is set for 12 months, but may be adjusted annually based on fuel prices, inflation, or changes in state laws.