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Mayor offers ‘preferred hauler’ trash option

SALEM

SALEM — A “preferred hauler” program could serve as an alternative to the idea of instituting a single hauler program for curbside trash and recycling pickup in the city, also through a bidding process, according to Mayor John Berlin.

“It’s just another option that’s come across my desk,” Berlin said Thursday.

He said he was contacted by a resident of Hudson, a city of more than 22,000 people in northeast Ohio, about their Preferred Hauler Program which began in 2016. The program works similar to electric or gas aggregation, allowing the city to request proposals from trash haulers to offer a reduced rate for citizens, using the idea of group purchasing power to get a better deal.

In the city of Hudson’s case, Republic Services won the contract as the preferred hauler, providing all participants a 96-gallon trash cart and a 65-gallon recycling cart for curbside service. The original price for the service was $49.86 per quarter and increased to $50.86 per quarter in May 2017. The price includes pickup of all trash, yard waste, bulk items and single-stream recycling, meaning all recyclables can be placed together in one container.

As part of the program, the city of Hudson required all trash haulers to follow a new pickup schedule divided by quadrants of the city which would be picked up on certain days as a way to reduce the number of trash containers sitting out all week long.

Both Berlin and Salem City Service/Safety Director Ken Kenst would like to see the number of trash trucks traveling city streets reduced, especially considering the millions of dollars being spent on paving projects. When asked how the Preferred Hauler Program would help in that regard, the mayor commented that he spoke with a Hudson official who told him the number of trash haulers serving the city went down, starting with seven and now down to less than a handful.

He said the best method to reduce the truck traffic would be a single hauler program, but preferred hauler could be another option for increasing curbside recycling. Residents still had the option of keeping the company they had rather than joining the “preferred” method.

More detail about the Hudson program can be seen on the www.hudson.oh.us website under trash/recycling.

“This information could be beneficial in making a decision on how to proceed,” Berlin said.

The idea of having trash haulers submit bids to serve as the city’s single trash hauler for curbside trash and recycling was presented to city council previously, but nothing happened after haulers questioned the move. The city then learned that city ordinance already required trash haulers to offer curbside recycling to customers, a requirement which the firms registered in the city have complied with. Just recently, the mayor suggested the idea of a single hauler again in reaction to a letter from the tri-county recycling agency serving Columbiana, Harrison and Carroll counties.

He stressed the damage done to city streets from the many trash trucks traveling the neighborhoods. A study he found that was issued in August 2014 by the Minnesota Department of Transportation assessed how heavy vehicles affect streets, estimating a passenger car equivalent for heavy trucks. The chart showed that a residential trash truck was the equivalent of having 1,279 cars travel the same street. The impact of residential recycling trucks was equivalent to 274 cars. A large delivery truck was equivalent to 163 cars. A long haul semi-trailer was equivalent to 1,408 cars.

“Wear and tear on streets is an issue that can’t be ignored,” Berlin said.

mgreier@salemnews.net

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