Elburn to revisit issue of what to do about blowing trash
The Elburn Village Board, with a deep sigh, decided Monday night to again discuss whether residents should be required to cover their recycling bins.
The matter was brought up by Trustee Jerry Schmidt, who has repeatedly said the village should be doing more to prevent recyclables from blowing around as litter. He believes the police or public works departments should be issuing tickets to the recyclables' owners.
Village President Dave Anderson said when Elburn changed its laws last year to require recyclables to be “secured,” not “covered,” that took away the police department's clear standards to write tickets. “Secured” is less specific; as Trustee Jeff Walther pointed out, someone could say they secured their paper recyclables by placing an empty bottle on them. Anderson said all the village can do is hope people are good neighbors and do their best to make sure items don't blow around.
“I know we have to hope, but that is not happening,” Schmidt replied. Maybe the village should prohibit putting garbage and recyclables out to the curb until the day of garbage pickup, Schmidt said.
Anderson also questioned how authorities could identify to whom the recycling and garbage litter belongs. “How do you define my garbage vs. yours?”
The 18-gallon recycling bins Waste Management supplies do not come with lids. Residents can also use other containers to hold their recyclables, including renting larger, lidded toters.
Village Administrator Erin Willrett said when the village tried to enforce the littering law in 2011, it issued 150 tickets in one week. And due to resident outrage, it ended up refunding those tickets.
Anderson said he has asked Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops if they are interested in picking up litter as a service project. And residents of the Blackberry Creek subdivision last spring had a cleanup day where they picked up more than 50 bags of trash and recyclables.
The village's contract with Waste Management expires in 2015. In May, the village rejected a new option of mandating all residents to use a lidded 96-gallon wheeled recycling toter, which would be collected every other week.
Willrett will investigate what options the village could take and present information to the board at a yet-unspecified date.