Trash District Plan May Be Revised

St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley has asked the County Council to change to April 15 from Jan. 1 the starting date for countywide minimum trash collection standards that require haulers to provide recycling to households.

He also asked that the length of hauling contracts in trash collection districts be changed to three years with two one-year renewals and prohibiting haulers that did not get a district contract from working in a district except in subdivisions that opt out of the district. Dooley also wants to prevent one hauler from obtaining all district contracts.

The county’s plan divides the unincorporated area into eight trash hauling districts.

Let’s see if we understand this. The county is forcing residents to do business with a contractor they may not want to do business with . . . . and a contractor in a different area may be offering desired collection services at a lower cost, but may be prohibited from doing business with all county residents.