Is Single Hauler Trash Coming to Lakewood, CO?
Buried in all the flowery talk about saving the environment and getting the city into social engineering, Lakewood’s new “sustainability plan” is the first step on a long-range goal to convert the city to a single hauler trash system. The mayor and his allies have made it clear they would like to move Lakewood to a system like Golden that eliminates residents’ right to chose their own trash disposal company and mandate they use a single city-selected trash hauler.
They are trying to sell the plan with the promise that a “pay-as-you-throw” pricing scheme may result in lower costs to consumers (at least initially). The stated purpose of this further incursion of the city government into its residents’ lives is the hope that this will force people to recycle more.
Ward 4 Councilman David Wiechman tried to head off any mandatory trash hauler regulation with an amendment to clarify any trash disposal regulation should rely upon voluntary participation. Outgoing Ward 1 Councilwoman Karen Kellen opposed the amendment on the grounds the council should retain the option of mandating resident participation in any single hauler scheme. Wiechman’s amendment only garnered the support of mayoral candidate Ramey Johnson and Ward 3 Councilman Pete Roybal.
I like the idea of a single trash hauler and think it is really common sense. Here’s a couple of reasons why:
The end of my street is a cul de sac so we get the trucks coming and going. Depending on the recycle schedule we have 7 or 9 trucks per week, double that to return down the street for 14 or 18 heavy duty trucks driving past our houses per week. With all the kids, dog walkers and other residential activities taking place that’s ridiculous!
Residential streets aren’t built for the wear & tear heavy duty vehicles generate so expensive tax payer supported repairs & resurfacing is a lot more frequent. Why would anybody want to double up on any kind of maintenance and it’s costs if it could be avoided?
Obviously the dust, noise, diesel exhaust and trash odors should be minimized whenever possible for health & nuisance reasons.
Since our trash is not hauled by the city like it is in Denver I want to choose who picks up my trash. Mandating who gets the contract can’t be good, sounds like a opportunity for corruption and a monopoly is never good for the consumer. If you want to organize your neighbors that’s fine, but a city wide single hauler sounds awful. All the trash will be on the curb on the same day IN THE SUMMER. yuck. That will be so much healthier,as least for bugs, rodents and other scavengers. It will not be a reduced odor. Also, trucks aren’t there for very long picking up one or two houses’ trash. If there is single hauler they would on the street for as long as it took to pick up EVERYONE’S trash. That’s not a reduction, it’s a concentration of diesel fumes and dust. I don’t know who’s bright idea this was but somebody must be getting a kickback somewhere. Taking away choice is never a good idea. Not to mention probably putting several companies out of business.
Look back at the city elections two years ago and see who received money from Waste Management. Remember” If you like your trash hauler you can keep your trash hauler”. Kinda sounds familiar doesn’t it?