The Haines Borough Solid Waste Working Group discussed the merits of mandatory collection March 3 following a presentation from Karl Hagerman, Petersburg Public Works Director and a representative of the Southeast Alaska Regional Solid Waste Authority
“It’s the convenience factor,” said member Diana Lapham of mandatory collection, who said at the group’s February meeting that she “abhors” anything mandatory.
Burl Sheldon, who proposed a plan that the group favored at its last meeting, said he doesn’t think a mandate for collection is “politically possible,” but “mandatory collection is an effective way to get all the trash.”
“We have a very weak collection culture,” Sheldon said. Self-hauling has been established as the standard here, and his proposal for a few borough-funded “high quality transfer stations” aligned with the standard.
Hagerman explained Friday that Petersburg has a mandatory collection program and charges $35.18 per month per household for a 32-gallon garbage can. The fee also covers a 96-gallon mixed recycling bin. Trash and recycling is collected once a week.
An incentive to recycle drops that price by 20 percent, making the price $29.32 per month.
“I would do $35 in a heartbeat,” Lapham said.
But Haines Friends of Recycling representative Melissa Aronson said she didn’t think $35 a month would be “universally palatable.”
Community Waste Solutions representative Sally Garton said the current collection cost for seniors for one can every other week is now $39 per month.
Hagerman said Petersburg pays about $113 per ton of solid waste and $25 per ton of recycling. The municipality shipped about 2,500 tons of waste and 300 tons of recycling to a facility in Washington last year. Sheldon said it’s a “highly efficient operation.”
Haines only produces about 1,700 tons of waste per year, according to Sheldon’s analysis.
The solid waste working group meets again at 3 p.m.,Wednesday, March 29.