Power of the 90 Gallon Garbage Can - Taking the frustration and making it a success

Salt Lake City changed its neighborhood cleanup this last
summer and some didn't get the message.  Looked at this for
months - Note the overflowing small can

I served on the Salt Lake City Council for 16 years, and each of those years, discussed the garbage fees charged to residents in the city.  A number of years ago, the city added smaller garbage cans to allow homeowners the opportunity to not have the full size 90 gallon can.  For many, the logistics were easier, since they didn't really fill the larger can.  Staff made the arguments that if people had the smaller can, they would recycle more.  In fact pricing favored the smaller cans as an incentive for people to switch, which in their theory would cause them to recycle more.

I believe in recycling, often that can is full and I take advantage of neighbors cans to make sure all my cardboard gets out.  However year after year, I made the argument that in the pricing, there is a fixed cost to collection, regardless of the size of the can and the weight potential should be the variable pricing.  However for many of those years, the 90 gallon can took the bulk of the pricing as an incentive to shift.  I often made the argument that if you shifted the bulk of people over, then the  cost would have to be made up in the smaller cans and that would be a big shift for many of those users after they had been shifted to the smaller cans.  I always lost out in the discussion, and in the scope of life, if you have to take a loss, that's one I can handle.

Salt Lake City Garbage Can Fee Schedule

More often than not, I see users of small cans with overflowing garbage, which in reality isn't much less than what I typically put in my 90 gallon can, yet I pay more.  Then came last summer.  Salt Lake City changed its neighborhood cleanup methods.  It's fair to say, the new method got off to a poor start, leaving many garbage piles through the neighborhood for much of the summer.  I tried myself to schedule a time, but it was out months, and on top if that, my truck wasn't running and I didn't have an easy way to haul things off to the dump.  I decided to exercise the power of the 90 gallon garbage can!

I had renovated my back yard, installing new new pathways with pavers.  I had trimmed back trees, including removing an apple tree for a neighbor and discovered that if I cut things up in smaller pieces and placed them in my brown or green waste cans or systematically placed discarded items in the 90 gallon can, they went away!  In fact, I had a quest last summer to see if I could avoid personally going to the dump and take full advantage of my 90 gallon can.  Just last week, I threw away a chair and a small cupboard that was introduced to my mallet.  I am always careful to not make it too heavy, but if it fit in my 90 gallon can, it was as good as gone.  I ended up last year, not ever using the neighborhood cleanup or making a trip to the dump for personal needs, yet it's fair to say, I threw a number of things away.

While I am not sure the pricing is still equitable, I've learned to live with the disparity and with my new found success of disposal simply say, "Power to the 90 gallon can!"