Can anyone assist? Please respond to Leslie (cc:ed above), and to me as well: cmccoy@rcap.org
Thank so much,
Christine
-----Original Message-----
From: KOCHAN Leslie [mailto:KOCHAN.Leslie@deq.state.or.us]
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 12:49 PM
To: cmccoy@rcap.org
Cc: KOCHAN Leslie
Subject: Rural garbage/recycling
Christine,
I work for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality in its Solid Waste program. Part of my job is to provide technical assistance to several rural counties in Oregon. I sent the e-mail below to other solid waste staff in Oregon and one of them suggested that I contact you and see if you know of any good rural programs around the country. The second question is the one I would really like help on from you, although I would also be interested in knowing how common mandatory garbage service is in counties in the U.S. (in Oregon, there are no counties with county-wide mandatory service; there are some cities in rural counties that require mandatory service.) Let me know if this is not clear or if you need more information. Thanks for any help you can provide. Here is the e-mail:
Country roads
Dumping of SW off of rural roads is a huge problem in
Columbia County as in other rural counties. The Transportation Planner
for the County made a presentation at the last Columbia County Solid
Waste Advisory Committee meeting on an idea for addressing this problem.
His plan (modeled on something he saw in Louisiana) was to place 30-40
drop boxes and recycle bins of some sort at strategic locations along
540 miles of rural road. Rural residents would be charged a reasonable
mandatory flat fee to use the boxes/bins. A lot of potential problems
with this idea were brought up at the meeting (rural residents with
curbside would lose that service in order to provide a less convenient
service for all; cities would need to require mandatory garbage service
or city residents might use rural boxes/bins for free; disincentive to
recycle because no economic benefit for generating less trash and more
recyclables, etc.).
The idea of mandatory service for all rural and urban residents was raised also. Both alternatives will be discussed at the next SWAC, looking at more specific numbers on customers in rural areas, etc.
So, my questions are:
1) Which cities (in rural counties) are requiring
mandatory service? (In my counties, curbside garbage is mandatory in
only Clatsop County - inside urban growth boundaries) Are there any
counties that require mandatory service in areas outside of urban growth
boundaries?
2) Any bright ideas about how to deal with providing a service to rural residents that will act as disincentive to dumping, will not act as disincentive to recycling, and will not cost an arm and a leg?