Waste Connections rolls out new $15 trash service, 96-gallon containers in Norris
Special new trash containers are stacked up in the parking lot next to the Norris Community Building, waiting for Waste Connections to deliver them to residents. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The new 96-gallon wheeled plastic containers are designed to be picked up by the mechanical arm on the trash truck as it moves through the city, and only the provided cans will be allowed when that process begins, City Manager Adam Ledford said.
“During the last week of July, Waste Connections expects to begin the delivery of their new standardized solid waste containers for residential customers,” the city announced last week.
“We expect residents to begin fully utilizing their new containers no later than the [Tuesday, Aug. 12] pickup,” the notice said.
“If you wish to have Waste Connections pick up your old container(s), please place them next to your new container on Aug. 19.”
While the new containers are being delivered, the city’s parking lot next to the tennis courts and disc golf course on Chestnut Drive will be closed, as it is being used to store the containers during the rollout, the city said.
Under the new contract with Waste Connections that began July 1, Tuesday remains the trash-service day for the entire city, but once all residents get the new containers, all trash must be fully contained within them for it to be picked up.
Waste Connections will have only a driver on board the truck, using the automated pickup arm, so there will be no one walking along with the truck to put trash into the back of it.
With the new contract, Waste Connections also is no longer picking up recycling material, and those bins are not allowed to be set out anymore.
Additionally, the back-door pickup of trash is no longer being offered except to a few residents who qualify as disabled.
With the elimination of recycling service, residents will see their monthly trash-collection bill drop to $15 from the previous $16.
The change to the automated pickup means that residents must place their garbage containers within five feet of the curb for pickup no later than 7 a.m. on Tuesdays, according to Ledford.
“If necessary, placing your cart out the night before is permitted, so long as you assure the cart is secure and will not tip over,” Ledford said in an announcement posted on the city’s website. “Placement should allow five feet of clearance (away from cars, power poles, structures and other garbage carts) on all sides of the cart for efficient service.”
As for back-door trash pickup, “In certain circumstances, individuals with mobility issues that prevent them from bringing their solid waste container to the curb may receive a waiver from the curbside requirement,” Ledford said.
“To be approved, individuals must complete a form (available on the city’s website) and meet the following criteria: 1) there is no person in the household who is physically capable of transporting the container to the curb; 2) there is no neighbor or relative NOT living in the household who is able or willing to assist the resident in transporting the container to the curb; and 3) a certification is provided by the resident’s physician which certifies that the resident has a mobility impairment [that] prevents the transportation of a container to the curb.”
“Residents who currently possess a Waste Connections-branded recycling tub are free to repurpose it for other uses, or [they may] leave it by [their] trash [bins] for disposal,” Ledford said.
If the city had chosen to retain recycling pickups in the new contract, the service would have been reduced to every other week, and the monthly pickup bill for each resident would have been $24, he said.
