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Poland Village will not pursue changes to garbage collection
POLAND
Village officials will not pursue their plan to contract with a single trash-collection company because doing so would disrupt the free recycling program available to village residents, village council President Joe Mazur said.
This decision follows talks with Michael Heher, division manager of Republic Services Inc., which is one of the companies responsible for trash collection in the village. Republic, which includes BFI and Allied Waste companies, is one of two primary solid-waste collectors in the village, the other being Waste Tech Services. Republic also collects recycling from curbs in the village for free.
Village officials had been considering surveying residents about the trash-collection companies they use, and then going through the bidding process to contract with a single provider at a lower rate.
“There’s a large discrepancy between the fees. Maybe we could get a better deal for the citizens of Poland if we brokered a deal with one company,” Mazur had said earlier.
Heher said the reason there are so many different rates among village residents, however, is because Republic Services has between 10 and 12 different rates it charges, depending on the collection option a customer chooses.
The Carbon Limestone Landfill in Lowellville, in which Republic Services deposits the waste that it collects, has an agreement with Mahoning County to collect recyclables for certain areas free of charge. Republic Services, a national company that serves customers in communities throughout the Mahoning Valley, is the only company that provides free recycling pickup.
“It was agreed that the landfill would charge [a higher fee for out-of-state waste] and use this money to collect recyclables once every other week at the curb for all incorporated areas of Mahoning County,” Heher said in a letter to Mazur. “There would be no charge to the residents or any tax money involved.”
Heher said it is a requirement of this agreement that a “free and open system” in which residents can choose their garbage collector is maintained.
“Since we cannot provide a free service to a government entity without a ‘quid pro quo,’ the Mahoning County commissioners agreed to keep a ‘free and open system’ in the county,” he said in the letter.
“In order to keep the recycling program going, you need to keep that free and open system,” Heher said at last Tuesday’s village council meeting, which he attended to answer council members’ questions about the issue.
“I just think we’re glad to do business in the free and open marketplace,” Heher said.
Mazur said the village council does not plan to pursue the matter further at this time.