Well, tomorrow night is the big vote on whether we franchise our trash or not.  It should be a very interesting discussion.

I firmly believe this is the right thing to do for so many reasons. 

1. Decrease wear and tear on our roads - See previous post for more on this.

2.  This is single stream recycling which has been proven to be the most effective way to get people to go green. A single

stream system means you only wash the items out, no need for sorting, no putting separate tubs out on trash day, you

just roll the cart out every other week.

3. Reduce Air pollution- Less trucks- Less fuel used- less pollution.

4.  Reduce Costs-- this will be done in a number of ways, the costs to City Facility's for service will be reduced, but more importantly

All Derby Citizens will pay at most $ 44.25 per quarter and that will include the recyling, if you are able to use the smaller trash cart

your price will be 38.25 per month.

5. Recycle Bank which is a program that basically pays you for the more you recycle and they keep track of it for you. Click on the name 

and it will take you to the web site to check it out yourself.

6. IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO for ourselves, our children, our future. 

Please contact your councilman- I can say man, because I am still at this point the only woman- and let them know how you feel on this issue. 

So let's hope everyone is on board at this point, if not then we should not have had staff spend all the time they have on it up to this point. We unanimously approved the Trash Boards recommendation to proceed with a Single Franchise with Recycling.

Well this is a blog where I get to say what I want and ask you for your thoughts as well and the topic of the day is

                                                                 Trash.

Franchising that is. Our town of 22k has been looking at a Trash Franchise for a little while now. The council has been

somewhat split on this issue.

Oh, everyone says yes yes yes we need to recycle I mean how can you not be on board with that???  

Good for our future, good for the earth, everyone is so "Green" conscious now. 

Please explain to me how in the heck you can be so pro recycle but yet do not seem to be bothered by the extra fuel,

extra pollution and wear and tear on our roads if we DON'T Franchise.  Do a little internet searching and you will

find at the bare minimum each trash truck does the same damage of over 1000 cars on each trip.  I know this number

is less than the average of 3-5 thousand which is the number you hear bandied about the most.

I thought I would be ultra conservative with my figures. So say we have 4 companies in town that means every week

that would be 4,000 cars on the street (each truck worth 1000 cars) times 4 weeks that would be 16,000 per

month times 12 months would be  192,000  cars per year on each and every street in town.  This is over and above

the actual car traffic and this is a very low number.

Those trucks 4 each week each street use fuel for 4, the trips to the dump station way up at K-96 and West Street. 

The Pollution, carts are out on the street most everyday of the week and we have no cost effective recycle program. 

There is one company offering it at a little under 12.00 per quarter or lets say 4.00 per month. A lot of downsides for

doing nothing which is of course one choice we have.

Now say we go to a franchise system, one company for the entire town.. 

1000 cars per week per street times 4 = 4000 per month times 12 months would be 48,000 per year.

Way Way less wear and tear on our roads. Remember these are VERY conservative numbers. 

Everyone in town would be able to use a single stream recycle system. Single Stream means that you could throw

your paper, your glass, your plastics 1-7 and your tin cans all in the same cart. By recycling we will each reduce our

carbon footprint on the earth, we will reduce the amount of trash actually being dumped in the landfills. I know a

lot of people will say Why should I care, I  will not be here in 20 years, Ok maybe YOU won't but your children or

grandchildren will and if you don't have family you care about then think what all the people who have walked this

earth before you would have done. There are so many people who made decisions 100 even 200 years ago that

have allowed us to have a better life now. Do your part please.

Education is going to be a fundamental factor in this transition. We already have recycling programs in our schools,

the children are ready for this. We need to get on board.  Proven fact - again do a little internet research- once

single stream is put into place your actual trash amounts decline. 

Now for the downsides- in my mind there is only one - The possibility of a company going out of business because

they have lost customers. This ways on my mind- a lot. However it comes back to the greater good and Business is

Business. In this day and age, if your company has not been looking at recycling programs and the possibility of

cities Franchising you have not been reading your Trash Haulers Monthly.... 

I speak as someone who has owned a business and whose husband is self employed. When in the business

world it is your responsibility- If you want to succeed in changing times to stay up on the latest and greatest and to

understand that their are no guarantees- Just ask our local used to be smoking businesses.

Now for the argument that Government is infringing upon our rights- The real issue for a lot of people out there. 

Did you care when we infringed upon smokers rights??? What about the Veterans Rights?? I could name any

number of ordinances that we have passed that have inconvenienced someone or maybe a lot of someones. 

Sometimes we tend to only care if it effects us, others are totally against more government whatever the reason

and the redneck in me totally understands this. I do not want to be the city who decides what furniture is

trash or treasure on your front porch. 

However when you look at this issue from all sides, there will be no cost savings, no widespread recycling, no

reduction of wheels on city streets, etc etc and in the end just more trash.

The change must start somewhere and why not with us. We are a town of intelligent thoughtful people

who like to think of themselves as being a progressive community.  If we care at all about future generations the

time has come. 

Here is a link to the City's site regarding the info collected to date regarding this issue Trash Franchise.

Just for fun search Carbon Footprint Calculator- I did and calculated on a few different ones, it is amazing how

much we use without thinking about it. We could all do better. 

These are my thoughts, I would love to hear yours- please keep it a civil discussion is all I ask. I will answer

your questions to the best of my ability. This item will be coming to a vote on April 28, 200,

Please tune in to Channel 7 to watch.