By Suzanne Sprague, KERA 90.1 Reporter
Dallas, TX – Suzanne Sprague, Reporter: Fort Worth households pay $12.50 each month to have their garbage collected twice a week. And, they can throw out as much as they like. But Fort Worth's Director of Environmental Management, Brian Boerner, says this isn't very fair...or very friendly to the environment.
Brian Boerner, Director of Environmental Management for Fort Worth: Everybody is subsidizing everybody else. If you put out 40 bags or you put out one bag, you're going to pay the same rate. There's really no financial incentive for you to try to reduce the amount of garbage you have and divert.
Sprague: The State of Texas wants cities to recycle 40% of their trash. Fort Worth recycles about 6%. And Boerner says the city's one landfill is running out of space. So last month, the City Council voted six to three in favor of new trash guidelines. But so far there's no contract or start date. Under the "pay-as-you-throw" program, residents would be charged based on how much garbage they discard. And, they'd have to put their trash bags in large plastic carts instead of directly on the curb. Again, Brian Boerner.
Boerner: By putting it into a cart, it's basically one trip to the curb. Now, granted, you've got to pull the cart back, that's the downside to it, but I think what we're trying to do with a carted system is actually trying to make you a part of this partnership of solid waste management as opposed to instead of just a participant.
Sprague: Boerner says plastic carts prevent stray animals from getting into trash bags. But the city would have to spend upwards of $12 million to buy trash carts for Fort Worth homes. And residents would have to hold on to their garbage for a week before it's collected. So some, like Councilman Clyde Picht, are not pleased.
City Councilman Clyde Picht: I know people in the barrel program who actually freeze their garbage in the summer and then they put it in the barrel because they don't want it to stay in there for a week in high heat. And I think that twice a week pickup is better and why it's been prevalent in the South, because of the heat.
Sprague: Five thousand U.S. cities use once a week carted trash pickup, including Plano, which switched in 1990. Plano Solid Waste Manager Nancy Nevill says she received about 1000 complaints about the so-called "green monsters" during the first six weeks of the program.
Nancy Nevill, Solid Waste Manager for Plano: And after about three months, really, and honestly, I had people who were very adamant about this and actually apologize to me that they were so angry because they loved their carts and no one could take them away.
Sprague: Still, some in Fort Worth are worried residents won't put their trash carts away. The Council postponed a vote last week on a $500,000 contract with a consultant who would help implement a new trash program. Some members, like Chuck Silcox, believe the process has become too onerous and expensive.
City Councilman Chuck Silcox: Trash collection is not exactly rocket science. We have a pile of trash. There are companies that pick up trash. And I think we have tried, it seems to me we're trying to make this thing a much more complicated than what it is.
Sprague: Silcox says when the Council takes up the issue again today, the contract will come closer to $250,000, a number still too high for some who oppose the trash policy change in general. The Council plans to take up the trash issue at its retreat this weekend and won?t formalize a new garbage contract until later this year. For KERA 90.1, I'm Suzanne Sprague.