No Waste Reduction Incentive
On March 3, the Bloomington Public Works in Bloomington, Illinois deployed a new cart system for garbage pick-up. It is new because new trucks have been designed to pick up the carts when these are placed at the edge of a resident's drive way.
The residents are given three choices for wheeled cart sizes: 35, 60, and 95 gallons. Their respective monthly garbage fee, which is charged through the monthly city utility bill, are: $16, $18, and $20.
In its garbage collection flyer the city claims to charge the price based on use. However, if we assume an equal density across residential garbage, the above rates per gallon is $0.46, $0.28, and $0.21, clearly indicating that the resident who creates the least amount of garbage pays more than twice the rate of the resident who creates the highest amount of garbage.
Given that the city has studies the city's solid waste services and that the city pays by the ton t dispose of the garbage, the fee system should also have been replaced by one that is weight-based or volume-based and that will not penalize the residents who have reduced their garbage output.
The residents are given three choices for wheeled cart sizes: 35, 60, and 95 gallons. Their respective monthly garbage fee, which is charged through the monthly city utility bill, are: $16, $18, and $20.
In its garbage collection flyer the city claims to charge the price based on use. However, if we assume an equal density across residential garbage, the above rates per gallon is $0.46, $0.28, and $0.21, clearly indicating that the resident who creates the least amount of garbage pays more than twice the rate of the resident who creates the highest amount of garbage.
Given that the city has studies the city's solid waste services and that the city pays by the ton t dispose of the garbage, the fee system should also have been replaced by one that is weight-based or volume-based and that will not penalize the residents who have reduced their garbage output.
 | Last year, I took the picture of my garbage output on my side walk before it was picked up. The blue lid garbage cart is for recycled material. The small plastic garbage bag represents our regular garbage output per week. |
  | I took the two additional pictures last week on March 10 after the new garbage collection system has been implemented. There was no collection of the recycled material that day, so I did not put the cart with the blue lid. The black lid cart is for garbage. In the picture on the left, a small store plastic bag where we have been able to fit all of our garbage of week is put to show the size compared to the cart where I am supposed to put it. The third picture shows the same plastic bag after I put it inside the black lid cart. As you can, it does not even fill a third of the bottom surface. I realize that the city of Bloomington is trying to be pro-active when it comes to collection of garbage and recycled material. Yet, it has really miss the boat when it came to the sizes of cart needed by the residents. In addition, the fee system has no waste reduction incentive . |
Pay-As-You-Throw System
I am not sure why the city has not chosen the pay-as-you-go and volume- and weight-based programs. These systems have been well-understood by residents of many communities and they are perceived them as fair. A snapshot of communities who has adopted these systems can be found at PAYT programs
The Bloomington, IL implementation of the new garbage system definitely does not meet the needs of its residents. It falls short of the requirements of a good green city.
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