City Council to consider disposing of trash bag deliveries

Residents could soon see changes in the way they get their city-delivered trash bags.

In a report to City Council, Public Works Director John Glascock said that the city could save $162,000 if public departments stopped delivering trash bags and instead mailed coupons to residents that could then be redeemed for waste disposal bags at local grocery stores.

Mary Ellen Lea, operations manager for the Columbia Public Works, said the savings would come from distributing fewer trash bags. Lea said many trash, recycling and yard waste disposal bags are delivered to residents but then not used by the residents.

“The people who aren’t recycling ... are throwing (recycling bags) away,” she said, adding, “not everyone is going to redeem every single coupon they get.”

The approximate 30,000 bags delivered to residents three times a year were also subject to theft, distribution errors or mishaps.

Lea said that the city would make the bags available at grocery stores because people have to buy food and other groceries regularly.

It costs the city about $90,000 a year to deliver the bags, according to the report. The city spends $72,000 a each year on trash bags that are not used by the public.

However, Fifth Ward City Councilwoman Laura Nauser isn’t so sure that a redeemable coupon system is the answer. “I think that would be a big change,” she said about the proposed system. “If we change the recycling bags, that might decrease (recycling overall).”

Nauser said that because of residents’ complaints about unused and stolen bags something will have to be done.

“I think there will be some change,” she said. “But exactly what, I’m not sure.”

The council tabled the report for a work session.

According to the report, the city’s ultimate goal is to eliminate the bag-delivery routes by March 2008.