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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2001)
Consumers to dump more cash into waste pick-up ■ Garbage collection rates will increase on March 1 By Lindsay Buchele Oregon Daily Emerald Lane County residents will be forced starting March 1 to deal with the highest rate increase in solid waste and recycling collection since 1994. Every two years, the city’s Plan ning and Development Department meets with county waste collection companies to regulate costs. This year, customers will see 6 percent increases in their bills. Representa tives from local waste collection companies said they receive com plaints from consumers every time garbage rates go up, and they’re ex pecting another influx of calls soon. But Nancy Young, solid waste/re cycling analyst for Eugene Planning and Developing, said waste collec tion companies are powerless to change garbage rates. “The city is who determines the costs for haulers; we set the rates and the standards,” she said. Since 1994, the city has regulat ed landfill and hauling costs. In creases are based on normal infla tion, the cost of fuel, the cost of labor and also the cost of recycling. Recycling has become a huge part of Eugene’s consumption methods, thanks in part to the 1994 Recycling Act, Young said. She also said that recycling drives up hauling costs. Sam Miller, who co-owns Lane Garbage-APEX Disposal with his fa ther, said years ago, his company was able to collect and haul solid waste with one worker and one truck. Now, with recycling added to the duties, the process requires two trucks and two workers. Miller also said that Eugene’s growth accounts for mor e waste. “The rate increases are not a re sult of people being wasteful,” Miller said. "We're just growing. ” Though residents have experi enced rate increases in waste dis posal before, Laura Kuhn, co-owner of ASW Disposal Incorporated, said customers on fixed incomes will ex perience real hardships. “People with children are strug gling to fit all their garbage in a 32-gal Solid Waste Prices When Eugene began charging garbage collection by the pound in 1994, the price for emptying a 32 gallon trash can went down. Since then, prices have gone up. August 1996: $1.80 increase November 1998: $1.55 increase March 2001: $2.15 increase Source: Eugene Planning and Development Ion can and aren’t going to be able to afford price increases,” Kuhn said. 1 s If what they’re saying is true, then you could use BALANCE GOLD! It has a 40-30-30 ratio of carbs, protein and dietary fat which provides your body with energy. And who knew there are 23 vitamins and minerals in all those peanuts, caramel and rich chocolate flavor. To learn more, log on to Balance.com.
