Special Pickups View
The following was submitted by 'Town Green':
Stop Special Pickups and Save!
I propose that the Town stop its free special pickup service and start charging a fee. This will encourage people to put their trash in a can instead of just throwing it on the ground in a big pile a couple times a year. Our streets will not look so trashed out year round. It's more cost efficient for the Town to remove this trash with conventional trash collection instead of sending a crew of men and a front-end loader around to watch one guy load each pile into a dump truck... while damaging pavement, curb, and lawn. And the Town could shift most of the special pickup expense to those who actually use or abuse the service. Less trash piles, more efficient trash collection, and savings for those who don't consume so much in life and who know how to put their trash in a can. Look around... do you see any other local governments providing free special picks and sending a crew of men and construction equipment all around town to pickup up trash that could very often have been put in a can? Stop piling up the trash in Vienna.. throw it in a can or pay as you go! I figure $75-100 a pickup ought to tidy up Vienna in no time. Should even encourage neighbors to coordinate pickups, further reducing the special pickup trips the Town is required to make.
Comments
Fairfax County residents pay separately for trash pickup, either to a private contractor or as a separate line-item paid to the county. See http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/recycling/curbside-who.htm
The City of Falls Church, which also collects its own taxes, isn't the refuse paradise you recall. One pickup per week, extra charges for every special pickup, and 50-cent stickers required on each bag of yard waste. See http://www.ci.falls-church.va.us/government/environmentalServices/operations.html
Opinions vary regarding whether empty yellow tubs scattered along the streets all day are more or less of an eyesore than bags of recyclables that get picked up and are gone in the early morning.
Posted by: No free lunch | September 29, 2006 11:33 AM
I have no problem with paying for service, although now we all pay for the special pickups in Vienna whether we use them or not. I suggest we subsidize them a bit less and charge a fee so that they are not abused and are used more efficiently.
One trash pickup a week suits me. Charging for grass and leaf pickup might be a good idea since these are easily composted on site, but that is not likely a popular proposal. But a good green idea... it's actually easier to compost than to haul it to the curb.
Tubs? Using grocery store bags works for me. They come and go and leave no dirty tubs bumping around.
Posted by: Town Green | September 29, 2006 02:27 PM
Ah, I do some what agree with Town Green on this one (partly). The Town DOES look junky year round with piles sitting in front of people's houses (mine included). I would like to see the Town go back to the old schedule when pickups where limited to a certain time table in the spring/fall. I have no problem with my tax money going towards something I can directly benefit from unlike most Govt waste in the Town.
Posted by: vienna mommy | September 29, 2006 02:43 PM
Dear Vienna Mommy: I believe from your statement that you have lived in Vienna for a long time. However, you seem to have a short memory.
When the pickups were scheduled by quadrants there was trash on the streets for six months.
There were the piles that were started two weeks early. Piles that were not called in. Two weeks or more for the town to pick up the piles. And then the piles that were put out after the deadline and sat there for who knows how long.
Furthermore, the trash was always out during the Easter holiday and the two or three weeks that the azaleas were in bloom. Now each neighborhood can decide if they want to thrash their neighborhood for Easter, etc.
You also had residents who would save up their trash for months to be put out for special pickup on the quadrant schedule. Although not relevant now, the storage of refrigerators in the back yard was dangerous.
It would be better to eliminate the special pickup than to go back to the old system.
Posted by: noi | September 29, 2006 05:09 PM
Vienna: No cut in services.
Fairfax City:
http://www.fairfaxva.gov/RefuseRecycling/RefuseRecycling.asp
Posted by: noi | October 3, 2006 09:53 AM