Creating an additional option for a yard waste solution was up for debate at last night’s city council meeting.
Member-At-Large Terry Dunn proposed to John Fawcett, from the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, that an additional bin be added to the garbage and recycling bin, strictly for the use of yard waste and brush pickup. The issue arose after city council removed yard wast and brush pick up early this year, but received a slew of phone calls from upset residents over the issue.
Council President John Zanfardino said yard waste being placed in plastic bags and thrown into the trash is not a good thing to be happening in the city.
“My belief is that 90 percent of the yard waste produced by the people in this city is in a landfill, and if it isn’t, then it eventually will be,” he said.
Zanfardino said it is easier for residents to throw their yard waste and brush pick up into the trash instead of using it as compost.
Terry Dunn talked to John Fawcett earlier in the week about providing council with an estimate on what it would cost to offer an additional bin and the service of yard waste drop-off to the people of Bowling Green.
“I told Mr. Fawcett to factor in that the waste would be picked up every Friday for the seven month period between April and October where the most yard work is completed,” Dunn said. “I wanted this done so we could factor how much each person would have to pay for this service, if they wanted it.”
The cost estimation sheet passed around to all council members included the cost of 5,500 bins to be passed out to citizens, personnel costs, equipment replacement and the cost of fuel for the trucks picking up the waste.
Councilman Dunn questioned Fawcett’s estimate, saying the numbers were higher than he expected them to be, and Fawcett cleared up any misunderstandings.
“Again, these numbers are just a rough estimate. The cost of personnel is to compensate them to complete this job that would take place on Fridays, in addition to the four days that they pick up recycling and garbage,” Fawcett said. “The equipment replacement costs is to factor in that our trucks will be used more frequently and I am preparing for them to be worn and torn down a little bit after seven months of yard waste and brush pickup.”
Fawcett said the most significant purchase would be providing citizens with a third bin.
“The bins alone would cost somewhere around $250,000 if we are providing them for 5,500 people,” he said. “Operational costs would be about $84,000, so divide that by 5,500 people and the annual cost for having someone pick up your yard waste on Fridays would be about $152.65, or roughly $12 a month for the students and other residents of the city.”
Mike Frost said he was hesitant to agree with Dunn’s proposal because of previous decisions made by the council this past fall regarding the drop off service of yard waste.
“Last year, we aid that we needed to cut out this drop off service from our budget because it was becoming too expensive and we needed to make cuts ” he said. “but now we say ‘Oh, we need it again!.’ I think we need to educate our community on this and other options that we can provide them with and make a better decision this time. I’m just a little hesitant to re-establish this whole issue over again.”
Dunn said he would beg to differ from Frost’s opinion.
“We knew that this was coming, and we all knew what was in this proposal, and that we needed to have some alternatives ready” he said. ” We are a team trying to solve this thing. It is more convenient for us to pick up people’s yard waste than it is for them to drive to the landfill which is always at least 20 cars deep, where you pay a fee depending on how much your waste weighs anyway.”
