Blackberry Township to have referendum on garbage pickup

Blackberry Township residents will decide in June whether to have one company pick up all residential garbage in unincorporated areas.

The township board voted earlier this month to put a question on the June 28 ballot.

According to Highway Commissioner Rodney Feece, several residents had asked about doing so.

Currently, residents of unincorporated areas, other than those in the Mill Creek subdivision, hire garbage haulers individually. Between trash trucks and those picking up recyclables, that means eight to 10 trucks a week, from four or five companies, are traveling township roads, Feece said.

If residents agreed to let the township organize garbage service, only two trucks a week would be going down a street, reducing wear and tear on the roads, Feece said.

He also said he thinks the township might be able to getter prices for the service.

All voters in the township would get to vote on the question, even though the garbage service would only be for those living in unincorporated areas. People who live in Elburn and North Aurora would not be affected.

It is not clear yet how residents of the unincorporated Mill Creek subdivision would be affected, according to Feece. That subdivision has a garbage contract already. That contract has a provision recognizing that the township might start contracting for garbage pickup. Feece said it is possible that the township could piggyback onto that contract.

Hampshire Township is also asking its residents that day to vote on having the township arrange garbage pickup for its unincorporated residential areas.