Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Garbage rates to rise $2.50 for recycling program

After months of public outreach, program becomes reality

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 9/22/2009 4:03:40 PM
• Last Updated: 10/6/2009 11:15:50 AM

New carts
Allied Waste will begin its co-mingled recycling program in Wilsonville later this fall.

The Wilsonville City Council voted last week to charge an extra $2.50 per month – or $5 per billing cycle – to start a co-mingled roll cart recycling program championed by Allied Waste.

Frank Lonergan, Allied Waste operations manager, said his company’s efforts to determine support for co-mingled recycling carts among local residents worked.

“I couldn’t believe how many people came up to us at Fun in the Park and said they wanted to be in the program,” he said. “It must have been hundreds.”

Allied staff members attended several events around the community, including the Kiwanis Kids Fun Run, Sofia Park Neighborhood Barbecue, Fall Food Fest and the new resident orientation offered by the city earlier this month. Lonergan also said he met with Villebois office management staff and the Charbonneau Country Club Board of Directors.

Although the city received around 15 comments in opposition to the program, the council last week approved the program unanimously. The new charge will take effect in December.

“We are very pleased, I thought the council had done their homework and Mark Ottenad did a great job of putting the report together,” Lonergan said. “Our entire goal here was to work with the city to see what we could do to increase recycling.”

Metro has a goal to achieve a 75 percent recycling rate by 2015, and Lonergan said the program had worked well in other communities. He pointed to a 13 percent recycling increase in  Lake Oswego, and a 15 percent increase in Washington County.

Lonergan is confident the carts will be in place in time for Christmas – one of the largest garbage days of the year for Allied. But he said he would like to see the carts out before Thanksgiving.

“We are trying to get the order in so we can get them out before Thanksgiving,” he said. “But we will have to see. It will just depend on timing. We have to order the carts and the equipment.”

Each resident will receive a 65-gallon roll cart that looks much like the current garbage cans, only a different color. Residents in Villebois and Charbonneau will be given a smaller 35-gallon cart due to space concerns by residents. Allied Waste officials said they are willing to switch people from the smaller cart to a larger cart, or vice versa, for free.

“One concern I have is how cardboard will flow out of the smaller carts,” Lonergan said. “But we want to be responsive to what people want.”

The smaller carts and the free exchange was one part of changes made after the public outreach and negotiations with the city started this past summer.

Paul Lee, assistant city attorney, told the council it will cost Allied $500,000 to start the program.

“I am excited to have this thanks to Allied,” said council member Steve Hurst. “It will encourage ease and quantity of recycling. I find myself, especially after a trip to a big box bulk store, frantically trying to cut down boxes to stick them in those little containers before a Monday morning run. The ease to toss both paper and plastic in there I think will be great for someone who already recycles and go a long way to helping some who may not have been in the practice to start.”
Council member Celia Núñez thanked Allied for their patience while the city debated the program.

“I think it’s well worth it for us to advocate for our community members and for them to feel good about the change,” she said. “There may be those who don’t, but I think I will be better for all. We appreciate you being flexible.”

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