Upcoming Garbage Issues

From Alice Wesson, our Towncouncilperson:

A few town council folks will be meeting with the county and DPW next week regarding upcoming trash contracts, to ask about what is possible, what is being offered and how the county can help. We want to start this discussion prior to Dept of Public Works doing a presentation to town council.

I'd like to be sure our needs are being heard and understood. While I represent northwest Altadena, on this issue I welcome comments from all over Altadena.

If folks have specific concerns they wish to share, please let me know offline. Your names will not be used. I will only use the street name to give a sense of the issues related to a neighborhood.
I can be reached at awessen@yahoo.com

Some concerns previously shared:

SPECIAL PICKUPS
• (Loma Alta) Wants more than 2 bulky item pickups per year
• (Jaxine) Allied trash collectors last week failed to pick up properly tied green waste and just left them stacked against our wall. Usually, those bundles are picked up with no problem at all, but recently we've begun having problems with stuff getting left behind.
PRICING
• (Loma Alta) Senior discounts?
• For the regular service Athens is the same rate as Allied who currently picks up our trash on Leilani (for the base rate).
• (Alzada Road) I support an exclusive franchise, so we can get a good rate with some accountability. We have two trash haulers now competing in a free-for-all situation - our costs are high and service is terrible.
• (Jaxine) I am in favor of the County requiring Allied or Athens to offer us decent services on a contract basis. With a contract, the County can hold our trash collectors' feet to the fire and be sure we are all charged fairly. Right now, Allied seems to be under no obligation to be consistent in what it charges each household nor do they guarantee a fair rate for their services. There's no oversight with clout from the County or any other agency, is there?
• (Fair Oaks) Don’t know who to call to help with issues when my own trash company won’t help
• (Chaney Trail) I support one contract
• (Jaxine, multiple neighbors) Allied Waste Services has us all on different rate charges and different levels of service (how many bundles will be picked up, for example).
• (Jaxine) Allied has become inconsistent in what they pick up and what they charge, house to house and street to street. Two houses next to each other, yet charged different rates (155 and 153 Jaxine)
•
RECYCLING ISSUES
• (Alzada/Leilani)No co-mingling
• (Leilani) Concern that *most* of the recycling be actually recycled, and not just CRV items
• (Alzada) If the garbage companies are required to separate at their site, why not have a single truck pick up on garbage day and be done with it?
• (Leilani) Allied had no answer to why our separated recyclables and green waste get thrown in the same bin with junk trash.
• (Multiple neighbors on Jaxine)We notice that separated green waste and recyclables get collected separately from trash at residences down the hill, while our recyclables and green waste get thrown into the same bin with regular garbage on the small trucks they send up Jaxine Drive. This has been noticed by other neighbors, as well. Allied claims that the various types of waste get separated by the company later.


TRUCK SIZE/NUMBER OF TRUCKS
• (Alzada) Truck size, a big issue with roads in the Chaney Trail area (big trucks tear up the roads). For emergency access, the issue of the roads breaking up is serious!
• (Risinghill Rd) Likes Athens because they have only one truck coming up our narrow road rather than three
• (Leilani) Does not like Athens because they want to charge 100% higher rate to drive the little truck up Leilani Way
• (Alzada) We have 2 or 3 haulers coming on different days!
• (Alzada) Multiple trucks being used causing noise, pollution and street wear
• (Alzada) Echoes the concern about the size of the trucks that are being used. They are totally huge, causing damage to our road and our trees, in addition to being a hazard to car traffic.

OTHER
• (Alzada) Bear resistant trash cans?