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Sunday, March 10, 2013 | 3:01 a.m.
Another view?
View more of the Las Vegas Sun's opinion section:
• Editorials - the Sun's viewpoint.
• Columnists - local and syndicated writers.
• Letters to the editor - readers' views.
Have your own opinion? Write a letter to the editor.
In response to Robert Latchford’s letter in the Sun about the storage problem with recycling bins, “Recycling bins fill up faster than trash,” I say he is right about the bins and wrong about service.
Republic Services is no different than General Mills, the maker of breakfast cereal. Both understand that to increase profit, all that is necessary is to retain the box size and price but reduce the content.
There is no valid reason to exchange a good long-term contract for lesser service simply because Republic Services gave nearly $300,000 to our elected officials in return for a more profitable contract.
My neighbors and I don’t find it difficult to recycle. Republic will provide any number of bins you want for free (you are still paying for these, anyway). There is no requirement to separate the recyclables today. We choose to store overflow in cardboard boxes and grocery bags, which are all picked up and placed into Republic’s single-stream truck bin.
Yes, the new containers would make it more convenient, so give us the containers! Don’t cut services from five pickups every two weeks to three or four.
Oh, and all that dog poo and food waste you now put into plastic bags? Well guess what — the next iteration of this will mandate that you further separate this waste. Then, as they do in San Francisco, the trash police will be watching you and issuing fines.
You will receive all this extra care for a mere $28, not the $11 we now pay.
Richard the service is to pick up and haul and bury ALL of you waste.
The service is not to waste gas and manpower to pick up the same waste with more pick-ups trips (5 vs. 4)
It is envirnomentally better to do it in fewer trips
You can must be able to manage your trash - can not believe you can not manage a little trash
Trash collection crews lift on average, over six
tons (13,000 lbs.) per worker per day. This heavy, repetitive, manual lifting combined with an aging workforce tends to generate an increasing number of injured staff.
A fully automated collection program enhances worker safety and comfort, minimizes manual lifting and exposure to possible hazards in the waste such as sharp
objects, exposure to blood-borne illness and repetitive-motion type injuries. Fully automated collection eliminates heavy lifting, walking between setouts and frequent steps on
and off the truck. With manual collection, worker's compensation claims had escalated over the years with the most significant claims dealing with knee, ankle, wrist and back injuries. Normal turnover in solid waste hauling operations can range between 10 and 20 percent.
Automated vehicles require more maintenance than traditional rear end load vehicles and require specialized training of technicians. Backup vehicles (15%), backup drivers(3%) and backup stored carts(5%) for spares and replacements are required.
Bottom-line, the fully automated system enhances worker safety and the wheeled containers are easier, more maneuverable, and safer for residents because there is no carrying or lifting of heavy trash cans. The cost of the system is in the implementation phase transitioning vehicles and the poly cart trash containers. I certainly respect Richard Rychtarik's opinion but it is not an actual cost/benefit assessment of the automated trash/recyclable collection system. Richard also doesn't address why so many communities have already gone to the automated trash/recyclable collection system. Why did all of these other communities assess the system as favorable?
First sequestration. Now trashquestration. Just say thank you letter writer to Republic Services for the yeomens' job they do and remember to put your trash out like everybody else when you're suppose to.
CarmineD
I agree with the points both Freeman & Carmine make. Our service from Republic (aka Silver State) has been superb for over 25 years. About the reduction in service without a similar reduction in costs: Why is it no one seems to mind that the "incredibly shrinking newspaper (the R/J)" has shrunk by some 50% over the last few years but hasn't reduced subscription costs to its readers? Hardest hit have been the editorial pages where guest columns now appear only 3 times a week; no more weekly restaurant reports; comics squeezed so small I need a magnifying glass to read the text; no business section on Mondays. I could go on & on, but you get the picture. The worst part is the R/J, now that Fredericks & Mitchell have been ousted, is tending to ape the LV Sun in supporting loony leftist propaganda. Count the anti-Conservative political cartoons vs those mocking the left and you may be surprised to see the increase. The relevancy of the R/J has been compromised under the new "management." I, for one, am not pleased by it.
"all that dog poo and food waste you now put into plastic bags? Well guess what -- the next iteration of this will mandate that you further separate this waste. Then, as they do in San Francisco, the trash police will be watching you and issuing fines"
Just flush the dog poop down the toilet. LOL
Scary stuff Rich. I didn't know Las Vegas followed the San Francisco model so closely.
Point in fact is that this contract change by our elected officials is a bad bargain. Anyone with a brain could see that what Republic Services gets is the ability to dramatically increase its profit while customers get new trash containers, a reduction in service and a recycling carrot.
I have not seen one independent study that says this is a good deal for us. So let's net out what this entails. Republic will significantly reduce the number of trips they make past your home every year, will likely replace their old trucks with more efficient ones over time (cost neutral position), and eliminate several hundred workers. Yes, some increase in recycling will likely occur.
Given that Republic has contributed nearly $300,000 to the campaign coffers of local and state politicians we can conclude that this garbage contract proposal was preordained. So why didn't our local elected officials even try to negotiate a better deal? After all, they had the upper hand, seeing as we already had a good for us long term contract in place.
Even a dimwit could see that if the goal was to dramatically increase recycling and we were going to give major up front trash hauling concessions to Republic then at least we could have demanded half of the "spoils." Why didn't our representatives demand that one half of all gross sales from recyclables be returned to us? Is this too much to ask when we cede a great contract with a sole source contractor? I think not.
Richard,
Enough already! You've written 4 Letter to the editors including this one on the recycling subject dating back to 2011. Why isn't one letter enough for you? Do you have a financial interest in seeing the upgraded recycling program not materialize? Do you have a personal vendetta against Republic Services?
Hauler sees $$ in recycling change (Nov/2011)
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/nov...
Bill should reduce if service reduced (March 2013)
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/mar...
Recycling plan cheats customers (Feb/2013)
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/feb...
Republic Services treats us like trash (Jan/2013)
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/jan...
Sorry to miss the point
If they take ALL, I repeat all of your trash what is the reduction is service.
We must demand that the collection is efficient and environmental sound.
Why all the complain'in
As for not wanting to put your poop in bags - to much information - just do it
We are perfectly happy with the once a week trash pickup. However let's wait and see if we can live with the smell of trash being kept in the garage for a week during the summer months,with the once a week pickup.
Re Jerry Fink: The RJ has been a right wing political fish wrap for decades. That's why I quit subscribing to it. When the Sun operated separately, at least subscribers had a CHOICE regarding editorial content. Fredericks and Mitchell got canned after supporting the A**hat Sharon Angle against Harry Reid. No credibility there. A Newspapers responsibility is to ALL of it's subcribers, and to present neutral opinions, or at least a balanced editorial stance. The RJ fails in that regard. If Suprynowicz, or however he spells his name, and the rest of their "editorial board" is still there, than the paper is still a right wing POS.