At their March 17 meeting, the Centerville City Council instructed their recycling subcommittee to move ahead with creating a specific curbside recycling proposal for the council to consider and potentially approve at a future meeting. Though no official decision has been made, the mixture of opinions presented at the evening’s public hearing seemed to lean toward the opt-out plan as a compromise.
“We feel, as do many of our neighbors, that the proposal has merit but should not be mandatory,” wrote residents Dean and Janet Harris as part of the e-mail comments included in the hearing. “If there are citizens that want to have these items picked up, they should pay for that service and not require others to subsidize such a program.”
If not enough people choose to remain in an opt-out program, however, the costs will rise beyond the mandatory program’s projected price tag of $2.95. Though that price would hold for the first 80 households who choose to opt out of the program, the cost would start rising with the very next household who leaves. After about 28 percent of households, the cost would rise to $3.95.
Council member Paul Cutler, the head of the recycling subcommittee, pointed out that a curbside recycling program would likely allow some homes to eliminate their second can, the cost for which is expected to rise to $8.19 this July.
Residents who had experience with recycling programs in other cities agreed.
“Where we used to live we had a huge recycling bin and a tiny little garbage can,” said Tim Hawkes. Several residents applauded a curbside recycling program, particularly those who had used one in other cities. “We would regularly fill up the recycling bin at least two-thirds full, while we rarely filled up the smaller can. We were astonished.”
Other residents, however, said that they didn’t create enough garbage to make curbside recycling worth it for them. Though many of these people also supported recycling, they did it on their own in smaller amounts.
“Within one mile of this building there are places to recycle paper, cardboard, metal and plastic bags,” said Centerville resident Ron Freeman. “If you don’t know where they are, you haven’t done your job.”
There was also some question as to whether or not a curbside recycling program would hurt the independent paper recycling programs going on at local elementary and junior high schools.
Annual estimates for the amount of money earned by each school was approximately $600 (though Centerville Elementary recently raised $1,400 due to the efforts of teachers), but some who spoke felt that people who donated to the school would continue even with curbside recycling.
“A lot of the money our school earned came from teachers and students recycling in the school,” said Danielle Ferrari, a local teacher. She went on to say that she supported curbside recycling. “I think it’s irresponsible of us not to think of future generations.”
If an opt-out program is chosen, however, Centerville City Manager Steve Thacker asks residents to be patient.
“If the council decides to go with an opt-out program, we’ll send a notice to every Centerville postal customer with details of the program and a way to opt-out via mail,” he said. “When and if the time comes, we don’t want everyone calling city hall.”
jwardell@davisclipper.com
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