Trash Takeover?

continued

“It could be a good thing in that the city could use its buying power to leverage lower pricing and get better customer service than the city itself is able to provide,” replies First Martin manager John Teeter. But then Teeter adds a caveat: “It could be a bad thing if it’s poorly run, poorly executed, and the city is just using it as a revenue generator for something else.”

The franchise fee alone could bring in several hundred thousand dollars a year. Weinert says that money would go to support recycling efforts. But the real gain, he says, is that the fees companies pay would encourage recycling—for instance, by offering discounts if companies can get by with a smaller Dumpster, or with fewer trash pickups per week. The principle, Weinert says, is that “your tax dollars have got you covered for recycling—but if you want to throw it away, there’s a cost. That seems fair to me.”

Some property managers, though, are skeptical. “I like to pick and choose [a hauler], because you can get more control,” says Jerry Moyer, property manager for 101 North Main. “I don’t want to have another layer where I would have to call the city who would call the vendor,” concurs First Martin’s John Teeter. “If there’s a problem and you call the city, someone eventually gets back to you,” Teeter adds. “My private hauler will respond on that same day.”