The Portage City Council is planning a special meeting for Feb. 20 to vote on zoning and trash collection changes introduced during a Feb. 6 council meeting.
The proposed trash collection ordinance puts the final nail in the coffin of curbside recycling, which is currently suspended in the city.
If you’re the kind of person who thinks one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, be forewarned: The ordinance would make it illegal to steal recyclables dropped off at collection sites or set out on an amnesty day, punishable by a fine of $1,000 to $2,500 per violation.
That provision is included to deter scrappers, Streets and Sanitation Superintendent Randy Reeder told the council.
Electronic waste – anything with a circuit board – can be dropped off at the street department during business hours or, beginning March 18, at the county’s compost site. It won’t be allowed in toters for curbside pickup.
Toters would have to be set out no earlier than noon the day before collection, no later than 6:30 a.m. on collection day. They would need to be hauled back from the street by noon the following day.
When they’re set out, they should be at least 3 feet from parked cars, mailboxes and other obstructions because the garbage trucks have robotic arms and nobody wants to see property damaged when the trash is collected.
Each house could have up to two toters. The lid color, which previously designated trash destined for the landfill or recycling, no longer matters. All trash now goes to the landfill.
Lids would have to be closed on the toters when they’re set out. Anything else would be subject to an extra fee. Extra trash bags, for example, would cost an additional $10.
Anything in the toter would be expected to be in a plastic trash bag, not loose. That prevents trash from blowing away when the toters are emptied.
Residents would need to call the street department to arrange for pickup of bulk items like yard waste, furniture or appliances. The cost for pickup would depend on the size of the pile.
Reeder said the end of curbside recycling is brought about by a change in the industry nationwide. Before last August, the city could drop off recyclables for free at the transfer station while paying to direct trash to the landfill. But beginning in August, the city would have to pay $105 per ton to drop off recyclables, about $40 more per ton than the cost to send them to the landfill.
“It will cut down the red in our department. It will not take us into the black,” Reeder said.
Councilwoman Gina Giese-Hurst praised Reeder for his hard work in recent years to educate the public on what can and cannot be recycled.
Mayor Austin Bonta complimented Reeder on naming his communications to the public Trash Talk.
Despite Reeder’s efforts, though, the contamination of the waste stream increased, now at 30%, showing residents were putting items that can’t be recycled in with the recyclables. The city would have had to get that figure to 10% or less for the materials collected to be recycled.
It’s a nationwide problem, not limited to Portage, Reeder noted.
Lots of residents are taking recyclables to the street department already, he said.
When the compost site, in the 6500 block of U.S. 12, opens on March 18, hours will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, Reeder said.
The city collected 1,926 tons of leaves and 6,447 tons of limbs from Portage residents. The leaves mean about 512 tons of compost will be available for free to residents, while supplies last. “That is a great material for your garden and stuff like that,” Reeder said. The crew at the compost site will even load the compost into trucks and onto trailers.
The zoning ordinance to be considered Feb. 20 would change a small parcel at 2872 Willowcreek Road, about two-thirds of an acre, from office commercial to small commercial to allow a Biggby Coffee store to be built. The shop would not have indoor seating. The location is across from Frank Gilbert Park at the corner of Sunrise Avenue and Willowcreek.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
