Excessive Garbage/Waste removal fees...

[Skerby]

Anyone have ideas on alternatives to National Serv-All fees? Basically it costs us $5.77 to pick up our garbage every week. If I filled the bucket with aluminum cans i doubt i'd get that much for it!! Any frugal tbn'er ideas?

 

[Chuck52]

That's kinda steep. We have at least 2-3 choices for trash removal. I think we pay about $40 for three months service, which is once a week pickup. If you have no other companies, you might save money just storing it up and taking it to the landfill yourself. Some places the fees for that might also get you, but perhaps you could pool with neighbors?

Of course minimizing the trash is the best way to go anyway. The small city we live near does a good job recycling, and has public drops in several places around town. Since I work in town, I just save up all the plastic and metal in one bin and the paper stuff in another, and about every two weeks I take it in and recycle it. It's easy when you don't have to sort any further than that. My trash pickup company actually gets a bargain from me, but it makes me feel better to recycle as much as possible....and yes, I know it is largely just a feel better thing at this point.

Chuck

 

[dmccarty]

Can you take the garbage to the dump yourself?

Our county charges a waste disposal fee to all property holders. This gives us access to collection sites through out the county. Only one of our neighbors has pick up service. Not sure why they do since they drive by a collection site four times a day.

We do recycle glass and paper which cuts down on the stinky trash that has to be dropped off at the dump. I drop off trash once a week which is usually one or two bags. Every 4-8 weeks I take the recycle items.

Stinky trash can be kept for 2-4 weeks this time of year since its cold. Summer time needs to go every week other wise flies and maggots show up. Even in close containers.

Later,
Dan

 

[LBrown59]

A lot of folks out in the boonies probably just dig a hole with the tractor and burry it.

 

[jinjimbob]

I wish I had a collection service, but the won't drive up a dirt road. So we goto the dump every 3 months, costs around $18 each time.

We recycle as much as we can too, they also don't count that in the weight fee.

I wish our state would include the waste fees in the property taxes, it would cut down on all the low life illegal dumpers in the county. Plus it would be cheaper for everyone, and a tax deduction.

 

[dmccarty]

I wish our state would include the waste fees in the property taxes, it would cut down on all the low life illegal dumpers in the county. Plus it would be cheaper for everyone, and a tax deduction.

It is a good idea. It does not stop all of the illegal dumpers but it does reduce them.

The land to our west was subdivided. There is a lot line running 800ish feet that intersects with our land right behind the house which has allowed trespasser access to us. The lot line was cleared with a tractor and seems to be maintained from time to time with said tractor. One day I walked the lot line to see the subdivision. As I walked the line within 50 feet of our place someone had dumped a bunch of trash. From the looks of it they did it with an FEL or off the back of a truck. Someone drove down the subdivision road then way out towards our land on this little trail through the mud to dump trash. When I got to the road at the end of the lot line there where not one but two heavy 4 ton floor jacks. Somehow some one managed to break them. Then they dumped them. But they could only get them so far from the road.

There are two grocery stores in town maybe 1/4 mile apart. The nearest stores are 20+ miles away. The trash collection site is behind one of the grocery stores. Someone had to load up a truck or maybe a tractor and drive 15-20 minutes to dump the trash. They could have just dropped off the trash when they went for groceries. Until this year they did not even check to see what was dropping off trash. This year the handed out stickers. Apparently quite a few people where driving 20+ miles to use our collection site. Fine with me if it keeps it off the road. The people who dump the trash I found had to be locals who have already paid for the use of the collection site.

Stupid is as stupid does. Open trash collection sites does cut down on the illegal dumping but there is only so much one can do with stupid lazy people.

I think one set of trespassers I chased off were most likely the people doing the dumping....

Later,
Dan

 

[dooleysm]

$5.77/week doesn't seem too terrible. I don't recall exactly what I paid when I lived in town, but I think $10-$15/month is close.

I have a county recycling center about a mile from my house, so it couldn't be much more convenient for me. I recycle glass, plastic, aluminum cans, steel cans, cardboard, newspapers, and batteries. I have 1 trash can in both the barn and gararge for non-recyclables (mostly diapers from our 1 year old).

I go to the recycling center, which also takes trash at $1/bag, about once a week. I average about 1 large bag of trash (I have the 55 gallon trash bags from Rural King) and 1-2 of my recycling collection bins per trip. It takes me probably an extra 15-20 minutes per week vs. curbside pickup. But, I have the luxury of a owning pickup truck and a very close recycling/trash center. If I lived 15 minutes from the recycling center or didn't have a truck, I wouldn't think much of paying $6/week for curbside pickup.

My folks live in town (Jasper, IN) and pay $1/bag (have to buy stickers to put on each bag) and have curbside recycling. I don't know if their, or my, taxes include a line item for "trash disposal".

 

[Bedlam]

DM

We have the cost 'built' into the tax base, and are charged for recyclables like washers and dryers etc.
I still have all kinds of trash dumped on the roadside.I don''t think there is any stopping that.

 

[DANOCHEESE]

I pay $47 a month for a small dumpster 1.5 yard. One pick-up a month. And I have to beg thme to come get it then. Waste management. Now the driver is good he tells me to jsut pile it up on the side and he will throw it in the truck if the dumpster gets full. He will get a treat for XMAS. Waste managent will get the ususal game picture camera of the truck showing up every six weeks instead of monthly so please credit my account.

Will probbaly start hauling to the dump soon We can't burn much anymore.

 

[Highbeam]

In my last suburban home I paid 40$ per month for weeekly pickup of 1 can not to exceed 50 lbs. Those buggers actually nicked me an extra fee when the pickup man thought it was too heavy. I now live in a more rural place with garbage pickup 30 feet from my front door but I don't use it. I fill 6 cans over the course of about 3 months and then load them all into my truck and drive them to the dump (actually a transfer station) which is 3 miles away and it costs under 20$ for the first 400 lbs. My 6 cans always add up to way under the 400 lbs, 280 this last friday, and I am set up for the next couple of months.

So I save 100$ per 3 months or 33$ per month doing my own driving and I don't need to remember to put the trash on the street every Monday. My power bill was only 112$ last month so you see that 33$ is a decent savings. That's a hamburger a day from McDonalds!

Even in the summer I do not find that the trash stinks, has excessive flies, or maggots. We don't get mice or rats either. I make great efforts to keep a clean trash can area and to keep the lids latched on.

Still though, there are more savings to be had. If my truck could hold 8 cans then I could go one more month between 20$ dump runs and still be under the max weight. If I got really spunky I could drag a trailer but that is harder to deal with at the dump.

 

[dmccarty]

DM

We have the cost 'built' into the tax base, and are charged for recyclables like washers and dryers etc.
I still have all kinds of trash dumped on the roadside.I don''t think there is any stopping that.

Does the trash collection site allow the drop off of appliances? Ours does. And it is easy. Well as easy as its going to get moving an appliance.

I don't think one can stop the people who dump trash. It can just be minimized. Making it easy helps but as I said, people will still dump, even though in the cases I mentioned they spent more time illegally dumping than it would have taken to go to the collection site.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

In my last suburban home I paid 40$ per month for weeekly pickup of 1 can not to exceed 50 lbs. ...

Even in the summer I do not find that the trash stinks, has excessive flies, or maggots. We don't get mice or rats either. I make great efforts to keep a clean trash can area and to keep the lids latched on.

Best I can remember we were paying 20-30$ a month for trash pickup back in the city. It was on the water/sewer bill. The trash men would just leave a mess almost every time they picked up. We always put out trash in a plastic bag, tied it shut and put in the garbage can. So all of the trash was what fell out of the garbage dumpster the trash men were using. I don't know if it passed but there was talk of limiting the number of cans and weight one could have picked up. AND you had to go to the curb. They would pick up on the side of the house or the curb but the city was going to require that the cans be taken to the curb.

If we leave the trash out for more than a week or two in the summer we get flies and maggots. Its a bit hot and humid in my area. I don't know how the flies get into the cans but they do. The cans are kept clean the and lids stay shut. Not like my neighbor who has one can and piles stuff all around it at the curb so it blows around the neighborhood. We have three 64 gallon cans. They have one. Very seldom do we need more than two cans to contain the garbage.

I don't mind taking the trash to the dump at all. For us we are lucky in that it is easy. No mess from trash men who could care less. Don't show up. And cost a fair amount of money. What we used to pay for trash, water, and sewage is about what we pay in power for nine months of the year.

Later,
Dan

 

[dooleysm]

I don't care what you do, diapers stink. It's tolerable at this time of year. It's a really nasty chore in the summer months! "The price of having fun," as my dad would say.

 

[dmccarty]

I don't care what you do, diapers stink. It's tolerable at this time of year. It's a really nasty chore in the summer months! "The price of having fun," as my dad would say.

Thankfully we are past the diaper stage!

But this year we had a very sick dog who could not control herself. She really tried but she pooped in the house at least once a day. Cleanup was in plastic grocery bags that we would tied shut. That stuff still stinks even in a tied bag. Especially in the summer.

At least when it started to stink I did not have to wait for garbage pick up day. Or exceeding my garbage limit.

Later,
Dan

 

[George2615]

When we bought our house in 1990 a local guy came once a week for our trash. He charged us about $20 every 3 months. Then he decided to retire and sold out to the big waste management company who promptly raised our rates to $68 every 3 months. That's when I got a dump sticker and have hauled my trash to the dump ever since. The past several years the dump has been raising its annual price for stickers but as of last years it was $125 for the year or just over $10 bucks a month. I'd hate to see what the waste hauler is charging these days.

 

[schmism]

we generate a very small amount of landfill-able trash. on the order of a bag a month.

I usually drop it at a neighbors or friend that has "city pickup" in exchange for a doz farm eggs or simular.

 

[firedog]

We pay 63.00 for 3 months, which equates to 4.85/week for twice a week pick up.
Plus we have two outfits to choose from.

 

[MarkV]

If your hauling to the dump a trash compactor can be a good investment for the kitchen. Compacts, bags and deodorizes into nice little sealed cubes.

MarkV

 

[Bird]

When cities started charging everyone to take anything into their landfill, the illegal dumping really increased. Corsicana, TX, had one Saturday a year on which you could dump free, and there would be pickups and trailers lined up down the side of the road for a half mile all morning. And in the west end of the county, people could go less than a quarter mile past our house and be out of sight of any homes and also where they could see any vehicles coming, so it always a huge garbage mess there. But there was an individual who picked up our garbage once a week for $12 a month in 2002 before we moved back to town.

Now in town, we have Waste Management picking up our garbage once a week for $9.77 a month on the water bill. I know some people, in some parts of the country, may have complaints about Waste Management, but not here. You can put your garbage out in cans and they'll empty them, you can use plastic bags (as we do), you can tie brush in 4' bundles, you can set appliances or furniture out there on the regular pickup day, etc. If two men can pick it up and put in the truck, they take it. And with proof of residence (drivers license and water bill), we can haul stuff to the landfill ourselves, free, if we wish. I've taken a pickup load of brush a few times when I pruned trees.

They did have some little green (18 gallon) boxes for recycling if you wanted to request one, but not too many people used them. So in February of this year, they delivered a nice 35 gallon recycling cart to every address in the city. Of course, it's still up to the individual as to whether you use it. It's picked up on the same day as the garbage; just by a different truck. And they show up every Monday, rain or shine, holiday or not, even on Christmas when it's on a Monday.

We definitely do use the recycling because they've now made it so easy, and we do not have to separate the stuff; just put it all in that cart. Each cart came with a 2 sided single sheet of instructions. One side tells about the program, pickup days, etc. while the top half of the other side lists items that can be recycled, and the bottom half lists items that must not be recycled. So we can just put "mixed residential paper", including junk mail, cans, glass, and plastic all in the same cart. Of course they go into more detail and provide a phone number if you have any questions.

I don't know how they could do anymore than that.

 

[dooleysm]

Since I graduated from college I've lived in an apartment where I had to take my trash to a community dumpster; in a house in a large town with curbside trash pickup paid for out of tax money, in a house in a small town where I had to arrange my own disposal (paid a guy for weekly curbside); and finally, out in the country with the situation I described above.

There's a whole lot more to trash removal than I ever realized growing up in a big city. All I knew was that we took our trash to the curb once a week in the morning and when I got home from school it was gone.