Politics & Government

Curbside Recycling Changes Could Be Coming Soon

In an effort to streamline waste collection — and save money in the long run — city officials are eyeing a plan to start distributing 18,000 plastic recycling containers to residents in 2013.

Automating the city’s refuse and recycling could cost the city big bucks up front, but could save lots of money in the future. 

That was a part of the discussion with members of the administration and a few city councilmen at council’s public works committee meeting on Monday night.

Another portion of the discussion revolved around parking, and how the city might have to consider issuing parking bans on streets on the days of collection.

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“Nothing is decided yet, but this is the start of a good discussion,” said Shawn Juris, the Ward 3 councilman and chairman of the committee, who added that there are still some questions he’d like answered. 

In an effort to streamline waste collection — and save money in the long run — city officials are to residents in 2013.

Find out what's happening in Lakewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Mayor Michael Summers told Lakewood Patch last month that he hopes to switch the method of garbage collection to recycling through an automated process.

The proposal, which came up as part of the 2013 capital investment budget discussion, would cost the city an estimated $53 for each of the 18,000 containers.

However, Summers said the move could save the city as much as $100,000 per year.

In a nutshell, he said, the city receives money for recycled materials and pays to send stuff to a landfill.

Members of the public works committee said they’d like to see additional financial details of the plan before signing off on it.

“There should be some data that talks to the cost-benefit analysis,” said Ward 1 councilman David Anderson.

This wouldn’t be the first shake-up in the city’s department of refuse and recycling. A few years back, during the Ed FitzGerald administration, the city ended backyard garbage pickup, requiring residents to haul their waste to the tree lawn.

“We traded a capital investment up front for a continued operating reductions down the line,” said Ward 2 councilman Tom Bullock. “This gets us into the next layer.”


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