Improve/organize residential trash, recycling and organics collection by private and/or public operations and offer significant volume-based pricing on residential garbage and/or incentives for recycling.
Best Practice of this action
Rating Guideline
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Require trash haulers to follow the city-organized recycling collection schedule; require organized collection of residential recyclables; publish hauler rates on city's web site & require waste/recyclables tonnage reports as a condition of licensing; assist residents on X% of city blocks to arrange for 75%+ of houses to contract with 1 trash hauler; set at least a 25% price differential among 3 cart size/frequency categories (~30, 60, 90-gallons); provide a financial or other incentive (e.g. larger container) for recycling. Report compostables collection under BPA 22.5. |
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Offer bi-weekly trash collection, ideally paired with weekly recycling (and organics); organize city-wide collection of recyclables, yard waste, source-separated organics; limit downward licensed trash haulers as haulers merge or otherwise forfeit their licenses. |
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Organize trash collection; use a bag-based PAYT (pay as you throw) garbage system; contract with one/multiple, zoned haulers for trash & multi-materials, either via RFP (if previous contract) or via hauler negotiations; note estimated cost savings/decreased air pollution to residents and to city (from decreased truck traffic); note if trucks use compressed natural gas (as city license condition?); achieve 50% recycling & 10% composting rate. |
Resources
Note that pre-2018 entries of cities organizing their solid waste collection service are found under BPA 22.6.
Hauler Licensing:
- The MPCA's Tools for local government (NOTE: the tools are under re-construction. Contact us for information.) includes options grouped into “good,” “better” and “best” actions organized under the 2 categories of collection & ordinances/licensing. Documents to help cities adopt these actions include license templates, a hauler services agreement template, 3 Request for Proposal frameworks, and an organized collection flow chart.
Organized Collection:
- See the MPCA's Tools for local government above.
- See an Analysis of Waste Collection Service Arrangements (2009, MPCA).
- The City of Maplewood shares Lessons Learned after switching to organized collection in 2012 (and is saving residents $1.6 million/year).
- See Options for Implementing the Amended Organized Collection Law in Your City (2013, Richardson, Richter & Associates).
- The Chanhassen Resident Organized Collection Guide provides residents step-by-step guidance for consolidating garbage and recycling services in a neighborhood.
- Dakota Valley Recycling's Neighborhood Block Rate Program provides guidance for residents who live on the same street, cul-de-sac or neighborhood to arrange for the same hauler to collect their garbage and recyclables.
- Use the MnDOT calculator to estimate the money organized collection saves a city and its taxpayers in reduced road wear-and-tear. Estimates of annual cost savings from reduced road impact from organized garbage trucks in various cities include $188,000 to $376,000 (Roseville), $120,000 to $300,000 (Oakdale), and $150,000 (Robbinsdale).
Pay-As-You-Throw:
- SMART BET (Saving Money and Reducing Trash Benefit Evaluation Tool) from the U.S. EPA helps community waste managers with unit-based pricing for solid waste management (also known as Pay-As-You-Throw or PAYT).
- See WasteZero for bag-based PAYT consulting and operations.
- In Minnesota, see Moorhead's volume-based fee schedule.
Order Number
7