St. Charles' Spring Clean Up on chopping block

St. Charles' popular Spring Clean Up program is on the verge of getting trashed.

The city's Government Services Committee voted last week to recommend spiking the program from the 2010 budget. The issue is expected to go to the city council for a final vote tonight.

The program allows residents to place unlimited amounts of trash at the curb during two days each year. The trash is picked up by the city's waste hauler, Veolia. The history of the program during the past four years shows as much as 396 tons of trash are disposed of by residents during the event.

The 2009 program was on the chopping block as the city stared down a budget deficit. The city council kept the program alive, because of its popularity, by increasing the cost of trash stickers by 15 cents each to cover the costs of having the two Spring Clean Up days.

But finances remain tight in St. Charles, and the city presented the committee with several options to keep the Spring Clean Up running if it wanted to. Those options involved requiring participating residents to pay $24.70 for the removal of materials via 10 trash stickers. If half the city participated, that would cover the $123,000 cost of the program. If fewer than half the city's households participated, the costs would increase. A problem, however, would arise if the estimated number of participants is flawed and the costs of the program aren't covered.

Another option involved selling mats of a specific dimension. Anything residents could fit within the dimensions of the mat would be hauled away. The cost of the mat would depend on the number of participants. Once again, the danger of a flawed estimate of participants becomes a possible financial problem.

The last option was discontinuing the program. City staff sold that option as the most environmentally friendly of all the possibilities. Much of the materials thrown out during the Spring Clean Up are recyclable, but end up in a landfill because the recyclables are not sorted. Those materials include some hazardous waste, including old gas tanks, paints and coolant.

City staff also pointed out that Geneva, Batavia and Wheaton don't have a Spring Clean Up program.

The council meets at 7 p.m. today in the council chambers, 2 E. Main St.