I guess I really never thought about it, but unlike other major cities, we don’t have curbside garbage removal;
As things stand today, that’s a chore my daughter or son won’t have to worry about. That’s because the city of Sioux Falls wants its residents to pay more for garbage service. The wise men of City Hall don’t allow their residents to buy curbside garbage services. Thus, you pay more.
The garbage collection system in Sioux Falls is unique. Not just unique, but odd. And incredibly inefficient.
While I totally agree we could improve on curbside garbage service, my hide has often been chapped about recycling in Sioux Falls, something we should get credit for on our bills, since the garbage haulers are making money from my recycling while charging me to pick it up. Seems kinda odd and chintzy.
I have a great hauler, one of the most prompt and inexpensive in town. I even convinced one of my neighbors to use them. Falls Garbage.
But it is kinda irritating that I have to hear a garbage truck almost every weekday from different haulers at different times, and at different locations in my hood.
40 years ago there were far too many garbage haulers in SF. Today that trend continues. It’s an incredible waste of gas, labor, etc; and even worse a huge strain on streets. I’m all for private enterprise and a competitive marketplace. But, some circumstances — like other public utilities (water, electricity) warrant a single-provider approach.
What exactly do you mean by curbside garbage service? The system we have seems to work pretty well. As long as your can is visible from the street, the hauler will pick it up. It is actually better to not have them lined on on the curb because they are more prone to wind or a random snowplow knocking them over and spilling trash everywhere.
As to not being paid to recycle… are you kidding? First of all it costs the haulers a lot to engage in those recycling programs because they have more trucks, more labor costs, more of everything. On top of that, it is factored in to your rate because it prevents us from having to build another landfill, which in turn prevents them from adding another $5 or $10 a month to your bill to pay for a newer larger landfill which is guaranteed to be farther away.
Plus, some haulers do offer rewards. I know Novak does… you get points based upon how much you recycle. However if they put too much into it (like a cash rebate) people would just be stealing recycling cans from each other so that doesn’t really work either.
The one benefit of having all of these haulers is that it creates competition. If we only had three or four it would be awful easy for them to all magically have the same pricing, so I don’t have problem with having a few more. There is a limit though… and I think we hit it a few years back. I don’t beleive a new company can start up now because the city won’t give them a sanitation permit.
Plus, not all of the 30 or so haulers service the entire city. Some of the smaller guys just work specific sections. Only a handful are servicing the entire city, so the truck traffic issue isn’t as big of a deal as everyone thinks. Not to mention a lot of these haulers are small operations that are nothing more than a dumpster sitting on the back of a pickup. Those aren’t going to do anymore damage to a street than the typical SUV loaded down with kids.
So what are the options? Some cities have municiple trash service which I personally like, but it isn’t like Sioux Falls could just enact that and force the 30 or so companies to shut down. Plus, considering all the complaints we see here about water and sewer rates, imagine the bitch sessions when the trash service was forced to raise rates by $4 a month to cover fuel costs.
I don’t know… I guess I’ve lived with both and I really don’t have a preference. I do know the system we currently have seems to work pretty well, and the only reason we are even hearing about it now is that the city is going to clamp down on the haulers who aren’t recycling like they should. That is a good thing – I’m tired of the big guys being the only ones who seem to care while some of the small guys dump the recycling right in the same bin as the trash because they can’t afford to run two trucks. This isn’t about harming the little guy… it is about saving our environment just a bit while prolonging the life of the landfill.
When I lived in Colorado there was one hauler once a week. Here, it’s numerous haulers, lots of trucks, & more expensive. I had the idea to organize my neighbors and use 1 hauler for a negotiated lower rate. Not enough interest. In Colorado it was Waste Management Inc.. Theyre often associated with organized crime and fee hikes were often with frequent strikes. I liked my idea as a solution but citizens here are passive and (generally) narrow minded.
I’ve always wondered what might happen if you just worked a deal with a neighbor to get one larger can rather than two smaller cans. Share the cans, share the bill.
Heck – there are a lot of weeks I don’t even have my little tiny can half full. I could easily split the costs with a neighbor if it was legal.
If Waste Management has their way, they will eventually hold the monopoly in town. Since they came in 15 years or so ago, they’ve bought out a lot of the smaller companies.
Hey, Costner great idea. I don’t know how that would be considered illegal. I betcha my neighbor lady would be all for it.
Scott, I used to have WM. What a joke, outrageously expensive and lacking customer service. Good riddance.
My garbage guy would kick all your other garbage guy’s asses.. at the same time
I’m pretty sure my neighbor burns his garbage in his firepit.
Even Better!
We used to burn our garbage on the farm and all the cats would gather to get scraps. One day a Aqua Net can exploded in the pit and I have never seen so much fast pussy in my life.
The reason we can’t put the can at curbside is the City Council passed an ordinance. It would be a lot easier for the garbage services to pick it up there. The city puts a lot of restrictions on garbage services including the size of trucks they can use and recycling requirements.
I have no issue with the garbage companies. You can always change services.
Dear fellow garbage bloggers:
I am very sad to hear about your fastly exploding pussies. Our Neighbor, Creamy Nugent, has recently informed the EggBert family that Verbal Essence has put out a new pussy hair-removal product which is both fire-proof and edible. She suggests yelling these words at your pussy before throwin’ it in the trash: “SHAPE UP OR FIRE THE CLERK!”
Sincerely,
EggBert and fellow pubic SF city council members
“Verbal Essence has put out a new pussy hair-removal product which is both fire-proof and edible.”
LMFAO!
I kinda agree with you Dave, I think competition keeps our garbage rates low. I pay half of what I was paying with a larger garbage company.