With several weeks of spring cleaning and lawn work behind us, many Denverites have noticed it’s not as easy to have the trash hauled away as it used to be.
To cut $2.2 million from its yearly budget, Denver Public Works has cut down on the number of times it picks up overflow trash items or large items. The delays have spurred complaints, and also appear to have increased illegal dumping, especially in alleys where Dumpsters serve multiple families.
The new, scaled-down schedule — understandable in these tough economic times — isn’t as convenient, but Denver residents still are getting a pretty good deal when it comes to trash collection. And we think a slight reduction in service makes more sense for citizens than remedies that would raise costs.
Denver Public Works has moved overflow pickup, such as sacks of lawn clippings, from each week to every three weeks. Large items, such as ovens and mattresses, once were collected every five weeks, but now are hauled away every nine weeks.
Complaints over illegal dumping have doubled, according to The Denver Post’s Christopher N. Osher.
Denver employs different means to collect trash. Some residents rely on alley Dumpsters — one for every four households. About a third of residents rely on barrels for trash collection. Some residents buy their barrels.
Denver also doesn’t charge its residents directly for trash pickup, as many cities do. Taxes cover the cost.
Last year, some city council members suggested charging as much as $10 per household for garbage collection. Mayor John Hickenlooper opposed the suggested fee, which was the right call during a down economic time.
Public Works spokeswoman Ann Williams tells us that the average cost per residence for collecting trash is about $15 a month. That compares pretty well with metro area communities where families are paying $24 a month and more to use private companies to haul away the trash.
Meanwhile, some cities offer large-item pick up far less frequently — try once a year — and others charge residents for the service. Private contractors in the metro area often charge $25 for large-item pickup.
Riffing on Osher’s article, a conservative city councilman in Colorado Springs wrote a piece for Denver’s Huffington Post website playfully titled “Time to Talk a Little Trash About Denver?”
The councilman, Sean Paige, touted privatization as the answer, noting, “Believe it or not, you don’t need government, or government workers, to pick up garbage and take it to the dump.”
Indeed. But it doesn’t make sense to abandon a government function that seems to be working efficiently and cheaply. (Not to mention the city likely wouldn’t reduce existing taxes if it gave up on trash pickup, so residents would just be paying more.)
When there is money for such things, Denver should study whether privatizing trash collection makes financial sense. But for now, we don’t see the slight reduction in overflow and large-item trash collection as that onerous, given the realities of today’s economy.
