New trash contract OK’d in Norris
A Waste Connections crew collects recyclables on West Circle Road in Norris on Tuesday (June 10). This service will be discontinued as of July 1. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The city has entered into a new contract with Waste Connections Inc. that makes those changes, and reduces the refuse-collection fee to $15 a month from the current $16.
As the refuse ordinance is written, residential recycling pickup will be discontinued completely, and regular trash pickup will be changed to curbside service only, except in the case of disabled people who qualify for back-door pickup.
The council approved the ordinance on first reading, along with a new contract with Waste Connections, during its regular meeting May 12.
In its bid to continue its refuse collection service to Norris earlier this year, Waste Collections declined to offer the back-door trash pickup service that Norris residents have enjoyed for years.
On the recycling issue, the council decided to eliminate that service rather than approve a proposal by Waste Collections to move to biweekly pickups. That option would have raised the total residential refuse pickup charge to $24.50 a month from the current $16.
The council picked an alternate contract that eliminates recycling pickups completely, but also reduces the monthly trash collection fee to $15, which is added to the water and sewer bills of all residents.
Disabled people with a doctor’s note will still be able to get back-door service. That will include people with permanent and temporary disabilities.
City Manager Adam Ledford said Waste Connections will not charge extra fees for the back-door pickups for disabled residents.
Residents also will be required to use new 96-gallon trash cans that will be provided by Waste Collections as part of the contract. One will be provided to each residential customer, but customers may order extra containers for $6 a month each, Ledford said Monday night.
Those plastic containers are specially made so an automated arm on the trash truck can lift them and dump them into the back of the truck without requiring a person to do it. That way, the trash trucks will have only a driver on board, without a helper, which will lower the contractor’s labor costs.
Residents also will be required to move their trash cans back to their houses within 24 hours after the weekly pickup, the new ordinance specifies.
Ledford said the automated pickup system is set only to handle the larger cans, and Waste Connections will not allow any exceptions to their use.
People who want to recycle plastics, paper and cardboard will need to haul it themselves to the Anderson County Convenience Center on Norris Freeway, just south of Andersonville Highway, Ledford said.
The current contract with Waste Connection expires June 30.
There is no provision for residents to decline the trash service to prevent having to pay for it. It’s automatically included in all residential utility bills, Ledford said.
