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| An example of what the town is looking into (ours will be black with red tops) |
The Town of Royalton is going forward with their plan to bring large recycling totes -- and recycling on a greater scale -- to our town.
This has been a long time coming, as more and more municipalities are proceeding in this fashion.
I asked Supervisor Jennifer Bieber to give us an update and a lowdown on this program. Here's what she said....
We have send out a bid for carts this past week. We will be opening the bids on November 14 and discussing it at our work session that night.
We do have fund balance money to use for the carts so we don't have to borrow any money. We would continue to have the garbage fee on the tax bill and as people recycle more the rate per household would go down. We would use the difference in the fee to pay back the carts.
So, here is the example: This coming year, the garbage rate is going down about $1.00 per household. If we did enough recycling and in 2014 it dropped $2.00 per household, we would use the same rate as 2013 and use the $2.00 extra to pay down the cost of the carts.
We will also be applying for a recycling grant to off set the cost as well. When the amount of the carts is paid off, either through the grant or the difference in garbage cost, then the fee would drop by household.
The carts we're looking to get will be black with a red top. The reason for the color is basic, it's the least expensive tote to buy. The colored totes cost extra money --- the red, yellow and orange carts are even more expensive based on the suns UV rays. There is a savings in having the cart black, so that was the way we went. There is no extra for the red top. The carts are guaranteed for 10 years. They have a chip in them so if they get blown away for some reason or lost, we can get them back to the correct address.
Also, we can see who's recycling the most or the least and work on an incentive program or try to get people to recycle more.
Recycling, as you know, is a win win for everyone. We're a lot smarter when it comes to recycling and "saving the world" than we were even 10 years ago. We can save money and our small community can also do our part to save the planet.
One thing I notice on garbage day in my neighborhood is most people are recycling more than their totes will hold. The larger cart gives you 64 gallons of room to fill it up. That is over 3 times what we have today.
Also, we would be going to every other week recycling. You only have to take it to the road every other week. Modern will help to get schedules for everyone to know what week they set their recycling cart out.
I honestly don't know one reason why this wouldn't be a good idea. I'm sure someone will think of something but for now I'm looking at this as 100% positive!
