Oconto Falls preps for rollout of new garbage bins
OCONTO FALLS - Residents of Oconto Falls will get a new way to dispose of their trash in November.
The city is ending its mandatory garbage bags system and rolling out 96-gallon bins for garbage and recyclables.
"Everyone has been very excited," said Peter Wills, the city administrator. "You know, I found that I think they're ready for it. … About a month and a half ago the towns of Oconto Falls and Stiles were getting the bins. I think there was a lot of excitement that, you know, people anticipated we'd be getting ours right at that time."
Instead it will be the week of Nov. 7 when about 1,100 residential property and multifamily properties with four or fewer units will receive their wheeled bins to switch to automatic pickup. The garbage bins will be black with a lime green lid, while the recycling bins will be lime green with a black lid.
"It'll definitely visually be able to tell the difference quite clearly," Wills said.
The containers are assigned to the property, and property owners are responsible for their care. If a bin is damaged or needs to be replaced, property owners will coordinate with GFL Environmental Inc., which handles the waste pickup.
Garbage pickup will remain weekly while recycling will be on alternate weeks. Wills said GFL wants to use State 22 as the dividing line, where recycling will be picked up on the east side one week and the west side the next.
The change to bins will result in residents' property taxes rising by around $100. The exact figure is yet to be determined.
Wills said the figure should be roughly comparable to what the average household previously was paying annually to use mandatory "city approved" garbage bags at $15 per 10 30-gallon bags or $9 for 10 13-gallon bags.
"It's hard to allocate directly by the user, in terms of how much that they're using," he said. "… GFL is not raising our costs for the next two years under contract, so we're just going to, you know, take that cost and divide it out by every property that we're picking up at."
Wills said the city is still trying to work out some other details, such as whether GFL will be able service small businesses on Main Street from the alley behind the buildings, and making sure that operators of apartment buildings and multifamily residents with more than five dwelling units are aware they will need to provide dumpsters for their garbage pick-up.
The city will host a public hearing on the revised amendments to its Solid Waste Ordinance at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 11 at City Hall, 500 N. Chestnut Ave. The hearing will precede the Common Council meeting at 7 p.m.
An example of the new bin is located at City Hall.
"If folks have questions, they can certainly call us or stop in," Wills said. "(I'd) love to hear from residents."
As for the remaining trash bags that aren't sold ahead of the switch, the city is looking to clear its stock.
"We may still sell them, but just at a discounted rate, once this is implemented … versus the rate that we were charging," Wills said.
Contact Kevin Dittman at 920-431-8416 or kdittman@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Oconto Falls preps for rollout of new garbage bins
