DeKalb Makes Recycling Free To All Residents
Decatur Metro | September 26, 2012 | 10:46 amThe AJC reports this morning that the DeKalb County Commission voted on Tuesday to make recycling services free to all residents, eliminating a one-time $30 subscription fee. According to the article, DeKalb County recycling participation is only at 21% currently, and the commissioners hope to double that number by waiving the fee.
The the fee has been eliminated, residents still need to opt-in and sign up in order to participate.
“residents still need to opt-in and sign up in order to participate.”
I hope they do some outreach for this!
Huh. I have a bin but I need to order more big blue bags; do I still have to pay $15 for them, I wonder?
If you’re a Decatur resident who uses PAYT colored bags, this doesn’t apply to you.
“Additional bags (100- count) are available for $15. Visit our website: http://www.DeKalbRecycles.com or call (404) 294-2900.”
The bags are for garbage. For recycling, you don’t need any bags… or at least you don’t need any specific kind of bag. Am I missing something? We just put the recycling in the bin and they take it away.
That’s in the City of Decatur. For unincorporated DeKalb, the bags are required for non-paper recyclables.
DeKalb still hasn’t corrected all incentives here. Decatur’s PAYT encourages less garbage for landfills (costs me to buy bags), while free recycling (including bins) helps me save. The garbage collectors have told me that their load has dropped by more than half since PAYT started.
The City of Decatur has an economic reason that justifies the PAYT system. It doesn’t own a landfill and must pay tipping fees for every load that goes to a landfill outside the City. Those fees are continuing to increase.
DeKalb on the other hand, doesn’t really have much of business reason to recycle since it owns a landfill with 70 years of capacity (purchased in the 70’s and 80’s). While the County collected 0k from selling recycleables to a vendor last year, that doesn’t cover the cost of collecting recycleables every Wednesday. It’s unfortunate but the economics are as favorable to recycling, yet DeKalb does it largely because citizens expect it and it is the right thing to do.
One of the reasons Atlanta, DeKalb and many jurisdictions don’t adopt pay as you sytems is because the governments are afraid that some residents will take their trash to somebody else’s dumpster, or simply take it to some deserted spot. Enforcing and managing payt is easier in Decatur than other places.
I sent an e-mail yesterday to the address in the AJC article and had a very quick reply that I would get my recycling bin in the next week or so. There was also a phone number to call to sign up.
I’m still a little ticked off about this whole recycling thing. Years ago, before Decatur went to mandatory recycling, Decatur residents would bring their newspapers and aluminum cans to schools and churches as a donation. As I recall, the commission announced that because of a new state law that mandated a reduction in garbage going to landfills, Decatur would begin the policy we have now, pay as you throw bags and recycling. All the voluntary recycling programs, that benefited church groups, schools and Scouts, ended. But then it turned out that Georgia never mandated this change or changed the law so that mandatory recycling was not necessary. This is why no other municipality in Georgia has gone to a program like we have. Anyway, that’s how I remember it.
So DeKalb offers free recycling. It may be the only good news the county has to offer its citizens so I guess it’s something to celebrate. But is there a better deal out there for the citizens of Decatur? Do we get the best service for the amount of money we pay? Are there any other options that would benefit the taxpayers? Am I the only guy in this town that is ticked off that so many people thank the city for once a year pick up of almost anything where in DeKalb,they pick up almost anything every week! And one more thing, how much garbage cheating goes on in this town? How many of us are midnight ramblers around the neighborhood dumpster?
Decatur chose to obey the state law. Nobody else did. Who is right?
I get that curbside recycling has hurt organizations that used to collect cans and paper, but on balance it seems to me that it is better for all of us if we recycle more stuff and put less stuff in the landfill. I’m guessing the amount recycled in the old days when you had to take it to the school or wherever is a fraction of what is recycled today at the curb.
DeKalb garbage pick up sounds good. Nothing (except lower taxes) else about living in unincorporated DeKalb appeals to me.
Time for editing must have run out. I added: “This is not to suggest that I don’t love my garbage men. I do and appreciate all their hard work.
Maybe MDMG (Mr. Decatur Metro Guy) could add a warning bell when time is running out on the editing process.
There are other cities with Pay as You Go programs including Marietta. Our vendor picks up the recycling from several Ga cities. See logic above re the cost of landfill space.
This is a bit off subject, but the garbage man has not picked up our garbage the last two weeks. Yes, it is in a green PAYT bag, and yes we pay the bill. We put it in a black bin (uncovered) right next to our red recycling bin. My guess is the garbage man has not bothered to look inside the black bin assuming it’s recycling??? We have tried calling and emailing, but have gotten zero service. Does anyone know where I can go to physically take my garbage and complain?