Removal of roll cart ban does not mean imminent change to Columbia's trash collection
Trash collection operations will remain status quo for the time being even after the Columbia City Council's decision to repeal a ban on roll carts.
Residents are expected to continue to put their trash at the curb in city-logo bags.
The Utilities Department provided the city council with a presentation of four potential options for waste collection during a pre-council meeting May 2.
"Now that the ban has been lifted, if city council wants to investigate any of those alternatives, we will begin looking into them at that time," said Matt Nestor, spokesperson for the department.
As of Friday morning, there had been no direction from the council to hold another work session or begin conversations about collection changes, Nestor said.
More: Columbia City Council lifts ban on roll carts, removes trash collection from Aug. 2 ballot
Options presented at the previous pre-council meeting included privatizing collections, continuing with the current logo bag program, eliminating the requirement to use logo bags and implementing automated collection.
According to the city staff presentation, current operations service about 35,000 customers per week.
If the city were to move forward with automated collection, working conditions are expected to improve, as the need for riding on the back of the truck and manually loading waste would be eliminated, the staff report stated.
The change would likely improve retention and hiring of staff. Better service and long-term employment opportunities increase the benefit of adopting an automated collection system, the report stated.
However, the shortage of workers with commercial driver's licenses is anticipated to remain, and additional training of staff and customers would be necessary.
The department does not have a preference between the current system or implementing roll carts, Nestor said.
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When the roll cart ban took effect in 2016, it was meant to be a six-month moratorium, which has been expired for about six years, Mayor Barbara Buffaloe wrote as part of a series of tweets Tuesday.
The vote doesn't mean the city will use roll carts this week, this month or even this year, she wrote, but rather that future plans can now include automated collection.
The current collection system results in high employee turnover and injuries from workers falling off the back of trucks and throwing bags from over 900 homes per day into the backs of trucks, Buffaloe wrote.
"I want us to have a system that is safe for our workers, adapts to the variety of needs of our community members and keeps our community clean and efficient," she wrote. "I look forward to working with our city staff and the community and designing what this system looks like for Columbia."
Council members voted 4-3 on Monday to lift the ban on roll carts after the same bill previously failed in April. The matter instead was set to go to a public ballot Aug. 2. Fifth Ward council member Matt Pitzer asked to reintroduce the bill, giving new members Buffaloe and Fourth Ward council member Nick Foster the chance to weigh in.
Buffaloe, Pitzer, Second Ward council member Andrea Waner and Sixth Ward council member Betsy Peters cast their vote in favor of immediately repealing the ban Monday, while Foster, First Ward member Pat Fowler and Third Ward member Karl Skala voted to keep the matter on the August ballot.
Lauren Tronstad covers local government and politics for the Tribune. Contact her at LTronstad@gannett.com or on Twitter @LaurenTronstad.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia trash collection not changing despite city lifting cart ban
