Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 12, 1992 TAG: 9203120276
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
But council members like the plan and hope to recycle it in a few years.
Several said that, since the idea was put forth as part of the recommended 1992-93 budget two weeks ago, they have received numerous phone calls from residents who think it stinks.
"As of July 1, 1992, I think the general public will just say, `I'll just give you the $25.52,' " Mayor Roger Hedgepeth said during a budget work session.
Town Manager Ron Secrist estimates that residents, starting July 1 when the budget goes into effect, will have to pay $25.52 every other month for garbage collection, due to rising landfill costs. The charge now is $16.96.
In his proposed budget, he and Public Works Director Adele Schirmer had offered an alternative: Charge $21.22 bimonthly, and give each household 48 stickers per year to be stuck on the bags or garbage cans. Each sticker would allow up to 25 pounds of garbage. Once the stickers were used up, the resident would have to buy more - at a cost of $3 each.
But the plan promised to raise public wrath.
Councilman Al Leighton said he was concerned that large families would end up paying a lot more than smaller families or single people, who generate less garbage.
He also thought some folks would dump trash illegally rather than buy extra stickers.
And Councilman Michael Chandler wondered about the smell and animal problems if people saved up their garbage until they accumulated 25 pounds.
Secrist and Schirmer had planned to start the weight-based trash collection in October, giving them time to wage an intense public education campaign.
For instance, the town plans to start picking up magazines, junk mail and other mixed paper and yard waste in the town's curbside recycling program. That should reduce the amount of garbage destined for the landfill, Schirmer said, from an average of between 30 and 35 pounds per household each week to about 25 pounds.
But council members agreed Wednesday that citizens would need more time to understand and accept the proposal.
"People, especially Blacksburg people, are good about rallying around a cause once they're convinced it's a good cause," Hedgepeth said. "But I think it's going to take about a year."
Council told Secrist and Schirmer to study the possibility of targeting a few neighborhoods for a pilot weight-based trash collection program, beginning later this year.
Although the idea isn't quite ripe for a townwide program, council faced some grim projections on garbage disposal costs.
Schirmer said Montgomery County's proposed tipping fee of $39.50 per ton is about 50 percent more than current fees. And the costs will only keep rising because of stringent environmental mandates.
Next year's bimonthly trash collection bills, Schirmer said, are most likely going to rise above $25.52 and keep climbing.
Charging residents according to how much they throw away, rather than a flat rate, will encourage recycling and save expensive landfill space.
by CNB