Do you live in a community where you have to pay for optional garbage service?

[bluestateguy]

Having never owned my own house, I wonder if this would mean that you have to dispose of your trash on your own (or burn it) if you do not pay for the service.

[tyne]

1. Yes...

and if you don't pay your bill, you have to take your trash to the dump.

[TwilightGardener]

2. I pay for private garbage service. There are competing companies in my town.

It's not much different than a city-contracted garbage service, just that they put the onus on the individual to contract with the company.

[county worker]

3. Yes, I pay for trash and water separately.

I pay Waste Management for trash pickup and the local water district for water.

[slackmaster]

4. Fees for trash collection were outlawed in San Diego in 1919, but...

...the city council has been throwing out suggestions to change that.

Every one so far has been shouted down, as they all seem to have some kind of fundamental unfairness. One recent one would have assessed property owners for trash collection based on the length of curb of the part of their lot that faces the street. Obviously that would not be fair to someone with a wide lot that isn't very deep, or someone with a corner lot.

[Statistical]

13. that seems insane.

If you wanted to do something based on the concept of bigger = more trash than why not charge base don sq footage of the residence.

Cities already have that data (for real estate tax purposes).

[sharp_stick]

18. Here you pay for trash by the pickup container

You can rent as many cans as you want (the big black ones that the truck picks up automatically) and you can fill them to the top. No pickup of stuff on the side.

Out family of 5 takes one out to the curb every week in the summer and it's usually less than 1/2 full. People with families of 2 or 3 living nearby often have one or two filled right to the very top. I'm surprised how much crap people can find to toss out every week.

[Statistical]

20. That likely is the most equitable solution

Hell even better would be a system which could charge by weight w/ recyables being free. Technically by volume would be better but would be difficult to implement. A system that gets closer to pay per unit would encourage people to actually reduce, reuse, recycle.

[slackmaster]

26. But people who have small families and live on big parcels will say it's unfair to them

Trash is more proportional to the number of people living on a lot, not so much to its size.

[Statistical]

30. True no system except measuring actual volume of trash is going to be equitable...

however one can always live in a smaller home.

Generally someone who has a 50,000sq ft home (even if living alone) can afford a higher trash bill than someone living in an 800sq ft home.

Perfect system would be:
* free collection of recyclables & compost material (w/ stiff fines for improperly placing trash in recycle & compost bin)
* trash compacted, measured and charged per square foot.
* hazardous materials collected separately and charged accordingly.

Of course implementing that perfect system in a cost effective manner would be very difficult.

[Kookaburra]

5. Yes and yes

We live in an unincorporated part of the county, and have to pay for trash/recycle pick up. If we do not pay for this service, we are obligated to dispose of the trash and recycles ourselves.

[Oceansaway]

6. my garbage fee is included in my

water & sewer bill.....

[uncommon]

7. I just moved from a town where you had to pay for your own pickup - most people hired

trash services. Everyone else bought dump stickers and took their trash to the dump themselves.

If you let it build up, you would get fined by the town.

[old mark]

8. We have a municiple contract with a private company for garbage service.

We pay quarterly, and are glad to do so. We have lived in a provide your own garbage pickup service, and this is very much better an dactually less expensive and comfusing. The toown we live next to has provide your own , with maybe a dozen companies in the city coming on various days at various times - it is very fucked up (homeowner term) an seems like there are always some people who just throw their trash in the nearby woods when it starts to stink too much, so all taxpayers have to chip in to clean that up using city workers. It costs nearly $100,000 per year to pich up the trash people dispose of illegally. Some of that comes out of my pocket, and it also fucks up the beauty of our region.

mark

[Ozymanithrax]

10. LOL

:rofl:

[mrcheerful]

16. Same here $50 every 3 months and because there is no city dump

you either pay the city $50 or a private company $150. That was started after the city's tax payers refused to let the city raise home taxes by 3 mills in the late 80's. I suppose I could take the trash out to the ural areas but if caught its a $1,000 fine with up to 5 years jail, no thanks I'll pay the $50.

[piratefish08]

9. we pay for the bags here. good system - encourages recycling.

[hedgehog]

22. The varaiation here is that I get 3 cans a week with my fee,

but unlimited recyclables.

[sandnsea]

11. Yes, we haul it to the dump

I mostly compost and recycle so I just don't have that much actual trash anymore. Not enough to pay $20 a month for it, on top of the $75 a month for water.

I've never lived anywhere that the city provided garbage or water services for free.

[fizzgig]

12. i do

the city council tried to implement trash districts last year (i think) and that did not go over well at all.

[City Lights]

14. No. Garbage pick-up is included with my property tax. nt

[hedgehog]

15. People in the city get their garbage picked up by the city and I think

there's a flat fee tacked on to the water bills. Out here, the town doesn't provide garbage pick-up. I have the option of paying a private service ($250/year) or hauling it to the dump myself ($80 for annual dump ticket or I can pay by the load.) The good news is that people aren't allowed to burn garbage outside, only agricultural waste (tree limbs, old hay).

My in-laws, who grew up when nothing was packaged in paper, persisted for years in burning their garbage in their wood stove. All that plastic generated a lot of dioxin, I'm thinking. Their county now provides garbage pick-up, so they haul their garbage to the curb to ensure they get their fair share of the service.

[Luciferous]

17. Our garbage service is added to our water bill nt

[The Midway Rebel]

19. Yes.

$45 bucks a month last I checked. But we are poor so we do not pay. We recycle at 2/3 of our trash and then weekly, we sneak in a bag to work to throw in the companies trash dumpster.

Take that corporate America!

[jdlh8894]

21. If I saw you do that in my dumpster

w/o asking first.......It's called theft of services and I would get your tag # and call the cops! Thief!

[musiclawyer]

23. I can speak an an urban and rural owner

When I lived in the city, The refuse bill was just another utility bill. In exchange I got curbside service. Of course you can't burn anything in most cities.
In my country cottage, it's unincorporated, so the refuse bill that is part of the property tax, allows me to dump trash and yard waste at the local dump or transfer station. Now if is want curbside pickup, I have to pay a local franchisee. You can't burn trash, but you are allowed to burn yardwaste on designated burn days.
So it really depends on where you live.

[Brother Buzz]

24. No option, and the private company has a sweetheart deal with the city

If the bill isn't paid on time, the CITY places a lien on the property.

[cayanne]

25. I have to haul my own gargage

I live rural in n Idaho so we have to take our garbage and recycling ourselves.

[raccoon]

27. In my apartment complex it's included in the rent. But I've seen signs on the dumpsters

saying they are for apartment residents only. Apparently, somebody is seeking a free ride.

[Bitwit1234]

28. Yes we are double zonked.

First you pay for the priviledge...$7.00 a month then 17.00 and change for pickup. Just like electricity you pay $22.00 base, then you pay for what the meter reads. Same with Steam heat, water, sewage etc. So you pay 50 dollars just to have the service and then for the usage.

[Mudoria]

29. 18 bucks a month

otherwise I have to haul it to the counties dump sites and pay for it there.

[spinbaby]

31. I live in the country

We can have our garbage picked up for $49 a quarter. It's totally optional. Many country folk don't pay and find other ways to dispose of trash.

The lady next door takes hers into town and leaves it with her daughter's trash.

A lot of trash get burned in rank, smelly fires, because there's no fire ordinance, either.

Trash gets dumped by the side of the road--big expoding bags of it that have apparently been ejected from moving vehicles.

The clueless redneck across the street piles up bags of trash in front of his house until he has a pickup full and then takes it to the dump. It attracts vermin and stinks in warm weather.

I hate living in the country.

[Kalyke]

32. Our city taxes cover it, but you have to pay for it if you live in the county.

I did a comparison once and discovered that, despite the hue and cry of county residents (mostly red voters) that it was cheaper to live in the county, it wasn't. City residents (mostly blue voters) pay an average of $1,000 a year and, once you factor in garbage collection, ambulance fees (yep - they have 'em!), higher insurance rates, lack of leaf/debris and construction pickup and other features that result in higher charges for county residents, they aren't saving any money. In fact, they're paying more.

[flvegan]

33. Monthly bill for water, sewer, garbage/recycling.

Roughly $25/mo.

[TransitJohn]

34. Optional???

You've got to be kidding, right? It's part of my $110/month bill, and that's assuming that my water meter didn't turn at all all month.

[PVnRT]

35. Veolia does trash pickup in the city here

If you live in the county, you call one of the companies that services the county.

[flyarm]

36. yes..don't pay ..you eat your garbage here!

[MissB]

37. The people who owned the house before us opted for no service.

It took several years, but I think I've finally found all the trash they buried.

They did haul some off now and then. The house came with 9 garbage cans.

[pipi_k]

38. Rural trash disposal...

in my town, anyway...

We have to pay a yearly fee for a dump sticker that goes on the truck.

Recyclables are free...newspapers, unbroken glass, cans

Non-recyclables like plastics and lightbulbs and other household stuff like aerosol cans, etc., go in a trashbag that needs a sticker on it that costs $2.00

Big items are charged individually, from $20 up depending on what it is.

[pipi_k]

39. PS...actual garbage...

I have a sink disposal, but in order not to tax the septic tank too much, I often just hurl the garbage out into the woods (well away from the house) where small animals might eat it, or it gets composted into the soil.