Coloradoan – BY KEVIN DUGGAN • KevinDuggan@coloradoan.com • May 6, 2009
Residential trash service in Fort Collins appears headed for some changes.
The City Council late Tuesday night gave initial approval to revisions of the city’s ordinance governing trash collection that are aimed at increasing recycling and requiring customers to pay for what they throw away.
The council also directed city staff to study what would be involved in creating a pilot trash district. City officials expect to bring a fleshed-out proposal for how the pilot district would operate and the area it would cover to the council in July.
Council voted 4-3 on both proposals, with Mayor Doug Hutchinson and members Wade Troxell and Aislinn Kottwitz in opposition.
Kottwitz said the revised ordinance – which would require trash-hauling companies to offer 65- or 95-gallon carts for recycling – would drive up costs for the haulers that would be passed on to customers.
“I’d like to show everybody how business-friendly we are and let the free market reign and let these people continue their business,” she said.
Mayor pro tem Kelly Ohlson said there’s no evidence changes to the ordinance will result in higher costs to residents or hurt the haulers. No one will lose a job because of the ordinance, he said.
If residents throw away less trash and recycle more, he said, their expenses could go down.
“You can’t just look at the short-term costs,” he said.
The regulatory changes include requiring trash haulers to adjust their rates so the amount customers pay for service is based on how much trash they throw away.
Using a 32-gallon trash can as a single “unit,” customers who use 64-gallon cans would be charged twice as much as a customer with one unit.
One of the city’s goals is to reduce the amount of material going into local landfills by increasing the city’s diversion rate to 50 percent by 2010.
The city’s residential rate was estimated to be 13.6 percent is a study of trash services conducted last year, said Susie Gordon of the Natural Resources Department.
With recent increases in recycling, the figure could be closer to 21 percent, she said.
The council heard plenty of criticism about the ordinance changes and the proposed trash district program from representatives of local haulers and the public.
Rudy Gallegos, part owner of Gallegos Sanitation, said the city shouldn’t be trying to fix a system that isn’t broken. The free market system works and districting would not, he said.
Gallegos Sanitation has been in business 50 years and is the city’s oldest, continuous Hispanic-owned business, he said. Gallegos noted the day was May 5 — Cinco de Mayo, which celebrates Mexican culture.
“It is so strange and so sad that on this day the city has chosen to consider actions that can or will eventually put our family business out of business,” he said.
Rallied by local resident Stacy Lynne, a stream of opponents read from a script blasting the proposed changes, especially the concept of trash districting.
Resident Ray Harvey described the proposals as a “bureaucratic power play.”
But Elizabeth Pruessner, a member of the city’s Natural Resources Advisory Board, said increasing recycling would help the city meet the goals of its Climate Action Plan, which calls for sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Troxell also said he has “zero” confidence in the city’s ability to increase recycling and divert material from the landfill through the ordinance or districting.
“I think the city is clue-less on this,” Troxell said.
Council member Ben Manvel said recycling has wide-ranging environmental and economic benefits for residents and businesses. If throwing away trash gets more expensive then less will be thrown away, delaying the need to build an expensive new landfill.
“Long-term it’s going to be an economic win for us to increase the diversion rate,” he said.