Talking Trash: Here's What You Said

Early last month, the invited you to talk trash with them. And 74 of you took them up on it.

The village’s current contract with Republic Services (formerly Allied Waste Services) was signed in 2007, and expires in March of next year. Director Mike Pubentz is looking at options—including possibly going with another vendor.

Before making this decision, however, Pubentz wanted to know what options Montgomery residents would embrace. So he asked—for the past six weeks, he’s been collecting your responses to a survey posted on the village website. And at Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, he delivered his findings.

The current agreement costs residents $15.50 per month. Under that contract, Republic picks up two 33-gallon plastic bags per week. Any amount of trash over that, including bulk items, must be stickered, and paid for separately.

Republic will also take recyclables in 25-gallon bins, and one bag of yard waste or one bundle of brush each week. The village also has a senior program that allows those 65 and older to buy 14-gallon trash bags at a discounted rate, and avoid the monthly fee.

Sticking with the current plan was the first of five options Pubentz offered, and 24 percent of those who responded said not to change anything. A further 16 percent opted to keep the current plan, but add a covered recycling cart, at an extra cost. 

The most popular option by far, however, would add covered waste and recycle carts to the current plan, again at an additional cost. A full 42 percent of respondents went for that proposal. A fourth option to launch a pay-as-you-throw system based entirely on stickers pulled in 16 percent of the vote, and one person said yes to a more expensive three-cart system, for trash, recycling and yard waste.

Pubentz also collected comments from those who responded to the survey, and presented those to trustees Tuesday night as well. Among several calls to hold the line on costs, and to add additional yard waste bags to the service, Pubentz said he received seven complaints about Republic’s service.

Most of those, he said, related to trash spilling out of garbage cans when Republic workers dump them into the trucks, a problem that covered containers would fix.

What Pubentz did not have Tuesday night was a full breakdown of costs for each option. Trustees asked him to put one together, so they could see how much more expensive a two-cart option would be. Trustees have given Pubentz the go-ahead to negotiate with Republic, but also to put a request for proposals together for other vendors.

Trustees will continue the discussion at the Aug. 16 Committee of the Whole meeting.

Responses to the village's survey (74 in total):

Option 2: Current plan plus covered recycling cart