Saturday, April 05, 2008

St. Ann Trash Deal Delays Recycling

Recycling won’t be provided as part of basic trash collection in St. Ann until March 2009, according to a plan that could be acted on Monday night (4/7/08) despite a new county ordinance requiring residents to pay for recycling along with their regular trash-hauling service.

A proposed three-year contract extension between St. Ann and Allied Waste would make recycling part of the basic service in March 2009.

That delay appears to run counter to a requirement in a new St. Louis County ordinance mandating trash haulers make recycling part of the basic service effective this summer.

However, John Haafis, of the county health department, said that if a city’s current contract was in place on Jan. 1 of this year, it could delay complying with the county ordinance until March 2009. Residents in St. Ann questioned if this a part of the regulation or just a decision made by someone within the health department.

Recycling is available now to St. Ann residents as an option and for an extra fee. “It’s going to be like pulling teeth to get (residents) on board for recycling.” “Everybody’s got to take it slowly.” One resident said city administrators need to provide information regularly to the residents to get them accustomed to recycling.

Under the proposal that could be taken up Monday night by the St. Ann Board of Aldermen, basic collection would cost $8.80 a month ($7.92 for senior citizens) through February 2009. For recycling, residents would pay an extra $5.25 ($4.72 for senior citizens). Through February 2010, basic service would include recycling and cost $13.50 ($12.64 for seniors) a month. Through February 2011, residents would pay $14.04 ($13.15 for seniors) a month.

Allied Waste now serves 4,332 households in St. Ann. Some of the residents will complain about the $5 cost of recycling, especially those residents who remember the days of free trash and recycling service.

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