Trash talk
Most popular option is automated collection
Room 107B of the City-County Building was full Monday of people wanting to talk trash to the Salina city commissioners. And recycling. And yard waste.
At a study session before their regular meeting, commissioners discussed a survey that had been sent to about 17,500 Salina households. The survey is preliminary to a comprehensive solid waste management plan, which will be presented to commissioners in the next couple of weeks.
People are very interested in the topic, said Mike Walker, of the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University. He and Jim Teutsch, operations manager for the city, presented survey results to commissioners, members of the solid waste management committee, other refuse service providers and members of the public.
Walker said 2,813 questionnaires had been returned, a response rate of 18.6 percent, which is much better than expected for surveys. More than 70 pages of comments still need to be compiled.
Of the options presented, the most popular, with 36.9 percent positive response, included fully automated refuse collection, single-stream recycling and collection of yard waste for $17.40 a month.
That would be similar to what the city is doing, but with a fifth route added, said Jason Gage, city manager.
The city is considering automation, Gage said, because it is difficult to hire and keep employees to run the trash trucks and there are a lot of injuries. Teutsch said there were 15 worker’s compensation claims for the year, costing an average of $1,600 each.
Not many recycle
Recycling was a concern of Commissioner Trent Davis.
“The questions is, are we a community that recycles?” he asked.
Gage said the city has offered voluntary recycling for 15 years and not many have subscribed.
“It doesn’t make sense for us to recycle just for the sake of recycling,” he said.
If commissioners decide they want to increase recycling, they should adopt a goal in the comprehensive plan, Gage said.
Trucks a concern
Research said Salina can expect 500 pounds of recycling a year for each household, Teutsch said. Currently, he said, 44 percent of all waste is being diverted from the landfill. The state average is in the 30s.
“I’m just really opposed to this whole thing,” said Mayor Kaye Crawford. “I’m not opposed to recycling; I’m opposed to those big trucks.”
The automated trucks would be about a foot taller than the trucks the city currently uses, Teutsch said, but damage to trees had not been a problem in any city he had spoken with about automation.
17,555 surveys mailed
2,813 returned
18.6 percent response rate
+/-1.67 percent margin of error
97.2 percent of households use city trash service
80 percent need more than one 95-gallon cart
50 percent mulch grass clippings and leaves back into the yard
34 percent said city should consider automating trash trucks
28 percent said no to automated trucks
37 percent had no preference on automation