Work sessions begin on pay-as-you-throw ordinance
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 11/05/2009
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West Lafayette held the first of several work sessions to deal with a proposed “Pay as you Throw” ordinance Wednesday.
City Councilor Ann Hunt, D-District 3, ran the meeting of the work group, which included city councilors, West Lafayette residents, business owners and landlords.
“I worked hard to try to get people with new ideas,” Hunt said. “I tried really hard to make a good group.”
The ordinance was made in response to rising costs of trash and recycling pickup, with some estimates saying that the current system of trash collection in West Lafayette will reach its limit in two years due to population growth.
The proposed ordinance as it stands now would change fees for trash pickup in West Lafayette for residences. All residences would pay a flat rate for recyclable pickup and one trash can or bag. For each additional bag of trash, they would be required to buy a $2 or $3 sticker to affix to the outside of each bag, which could be purchased at various locations. Bags without the sticker would be left behind by sanitation workers.
The ordinance will be voted on second reading in March 2010, with the intervening time taken up by work sessions to deal with specific details of the proposal.
A specific issue brought up during the work session dealt with the possibility of illegal dumping, where residents who do not want to pay for a sticker would simply take their trash to a Dumpster owned by a nearby business. Businesses are not recipients of city trash pickup, and pay private trash collection agencies for their trash removal.
Mary T. Cook, owner of Harry’s Chocolate Shop and member of the work group, said several business owners and landlords had already expressed concerns on this point to her, having already experienced illegal dumping.
“It’s already ongoing,” Cook said. “Our concern is if other people are paying in their residences for removal per bag ... is that going to increase dramatically?”
Diane Damico, West Lafayette Go Greener Commission Chair, however, said the Environmental Protection Agency had done studies on other areas that have adopted similar programs, and had found that while illegal dumping did still occur, it did not increase in any significant way.
“One hundred seventy-three communities in Indiana use this system,” Damico said. “I think if dumping was really that big of a problem they’d probably revert back to the original systems.”