Twenty-Seven Percent Of Households Opt-Out of County Trash Program

About 27 percent of households in unincorporated St. Louis County have decided against being in the trash collection districts that the county plans for them. Subdivisions covering 28,065 households — 26.92 percent — of the 104,240 district households opted out by the Feb. 1 deadline, Garry Earls, the county's chief operating officer, said Thursday.

The county will soon seek bids from haulers to serve each district. The county plan calls for it to select a single hauler for each of eight districts through bids. The haulers would collect trash and recyclable material once a week and provide bulky pickup twice a year.

More South County Homes Opt Out

The percentages of households that rejected the county program varied widely by trash districts. They range from 12.1 percent in Spanish Lake to 46.5 percent in Oakville.

Earls Infers Rates Might Be Higher in South County

Earls said the monthly trash collection cost might be slightly higher in a district where a large percentage of households opted out. He hopes that the cost to households in a district would be less than $15 a month but there is no guarantee.

30,000 Households Not Eligible to Opt-Out

Under the county's rules, only subdivisions or associations of households could leave districts. About 30,000 households are not in subdivisions, Earls said.

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