Arlington Hts. OKs new trash contract

Arlington Heights will continue with twice-a-week garbage pickup - despite pleas at Monday's village board meeting from eight residents claiming that cutting back to once per week would save money and help the environment.

The board approved a five-year contract with Groot Industries that includes an option to renegotiate for a second five-year term.

Trustee Joseph Farwell cast the only "no" vote, saying he wished a contract with once-a-week garbage pickup had been thoroughly studied.

Resident Debra Baruch, who works with a school ecology club, urged the board to consider "the community of planet earth" when making its decision.

Arlington Heights and Skokie are the only municipalities in the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County that have garbage pickup twice per week.

At least some of the speakers Monday night are members of the Arlington Heights Cool Cities Coalition, a group that works to reduce local carbon emissions.

People on both sides of the garbage pickup issue had sent e-mails to trustees on Monday, Mayor Arlene Mulder said.

Paul Culhane, professor emeritus of public administration at Northern Illinois University, said residents could save about 20 percent with one pickup per week. He presented figures on how much neighboring communities with once-a-week service pay.

Mulder said it is difficult to compare costs from other municipalities because Arlington Heights has features other villages might not, such as discounts for seniors and the ability to put out unlimited amounts of trash.

The base cost in Arlington Heights is almost $24 per month. That includes $2.50 per month extra because Groot does the billing, but Village Manager Bill Dixon said residents still would pay that cost if the village took over the job.

Trustees were impressed that Groot is adding trucks that run on compressed natural gas to its fleet, thus reducing pollution.

Terms of the new contract include a freeze in the monthly rate for garbage pickup for one year, followed by an increase of 2 percent each year of the contract. Groot will also give each homeowner a free cart for recycling, which will save the community as much as $1 million. Homeowners can choose the size of their carts and continue to use their smaller recycling bins if they wish.

Residents who prefer can also rent carts for their garbage for $2.50 per month, rather than use bags.

Despite Groot's one-year freeze in rates, residents could see an increase with the new contract on April 1 because the village spent $120,000 to subsidize the fees this year. Trustees agreed they would decide during the budgetary process whether that is affordable for the village in 2011.

Reducing to once a week would save homeowners about $50 a year, Groot CEO Lee Brandsma said at a recent meeting.

In preparation for a new contract, the village conducted surveys on attitudes toward garbage and recycling.

Forty-three percent of respondents said they wanted to cut to once-a-week service; 41 percent chose twice a week and 16 percent preferred once a week pickup with residents having an option to pay for a second. However, controlling the cost of service ranked highest in the survey.

When the village cut service to once per week several years ago, the outcry was so strong that twice-a-week pickup was quickly reinstated.