The Starkville Board of Aldermen tonight will consider a switch in garbage collection methods from bags to oversize carts.
Under the city”s current garbage collection system, Sanitation Department employees distribute garbage bags to residents and businesses two times a year and collect the garbage twice a week.
Under a new system proposed by Ward 3 Alderman Eric Parker, the city would lease 10,000 96-gallon trash bins or carts and distribute them to residents and businesses. Customers would be required to purchase their own bags in which to put household garbage, and then put those bags in the containers provided free of charge by the city.
Of the city”s 10,542 residential customers, approximately 7,000 live in single-family homes and would require new carts or bins. The remainder live in apartments and similar complexes and would continue to place their garbage in existing front-load containers.
Additionally, each of the 786 businesses which are served by the Sanitation Department would require at least one cart, bringing the total number needed for the first year of the program to nearly 8,000, Parker said. An additional 2,000 carts would be needed in reserve, he said, and additional carts could be required at a cost of approximately $10,000 per year.
The city could lease and distribute the bins on a six-year plan at a cost of approximately $145,000 per year, or $860,900 total, Parker said. The city would then own the bins and the warranty on each would last an additional four years.
By comparison, the cost to buy and distribute garbage bags to Sanitation Department accounts over the next 10 years would cost the city $1,450,000, so the bin plan would save taxpayers approximately $589,100, Parker said.
On top of the cost savings, the switch would be cleaner for the city, considering garbage bags tend to rip and refuse ends up on the sides of Starkville”s streets, Parker said. Additionally, the switch would be safer for Sanitation Department workers who won”t have to deal with broken glass and other items sticking through bags, he said.
Among other items aldermen will consider tonight is a final plat for an RV park behind University Crossing Shopping Center.
Aldermen in June approved a preliminary plat for Starkville Station RV Park at the corner of Lincoln Green and Spring Street. Infrastructure for the 44-lot development already has been installed.
The Starkville Board of Aldermen will consider the park”s final plat tonight when it meets at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.
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