by WES FERGUSON
Curbside recycling is about to become a lot more convenient in the city of Buda. Trash pickup, meanwhile, is getting a little pricier.
Under a new waste disposal contract approved by the city council last week, Buda is moving to a “single stream” recycling program beginning in October. The most noticeable change will be the way Buda residents collect and store their recyclable materials.
This fall, residents will say goodbye to their 18-gallon, open-air recycling bins, and in exchange they’ll receive one 96-gallon cart with a lid and wheels. With the new cart, customers will no longer be required to sort their recyclables into separate bins for paper and other products.
Instead, they’ll toss their paper, bottles, cans and other recyclables – including cardboard, in a departure from the current program – into the one cart. The recyclables will be hauled off every other week. Regular trash pickup will continue weekly in a separate cart for solid waste.
Before the transition to the new program, the city will be rolling out a community education campaign to explain pickup schedules and other do’s and don’ts, according to Chance Sparks, the city’s director of planning.
“It’s a really straightforward method of recycling, but we want to make sure everybody understands completely and feels comfortable about it,” he said. “We want people to participate because it drives down landfill costs” and protects the environment.
“The way solid waste is going these days,” he continued, “most of your increased costs are showing up on the landfill side of things. When a landfill fills up, you have to build a new one. We can conserve landfill space by recycling.”
Single stream recycling has already gained favor in Kyle and many other cities around Central Texas. With the move to single stream, Buda officials expect a significant increase in recycling in their city.
The new service comes at a cost to consumers, however. Residential customers can expect a 25 percent hike in their monthly trash bill. The new rate of $14.67 will be the city’s first increase in three years. (That rate does not include the city’s 10 percent administration fee, which will increase to $1.47 a month).
Over the next five years, the rate will increase by about 70 cents a month. In 2015, the monthly rate will be $17.49.
Buda officials note their waste disposal rate is one of the lowest in the area. In the city of Kyle, where single stream recycling went into effect in April, residents pay a monthly rate of $15.65 — nearly a dollar more per month than Buda. Kyle’s rate includes an additional bin for compostable green waste, a service that is not offered in Buda.
In other changes to Buda’s waste disposal service, the contractor, Creedmoor-based Texas Disposal Systems, will no longer haul off extra bags of waste at no charge. Each additional bag of trash will cost residential customers $5 in a “pay by throw” arrangement.
Participation in the recycling program will be optional for business customers. Rates will vary by the size of receptacles and frequency of service. For example, businesses will pay $23 a month if they use the 96-gallon cart for weekly pickup of solid waste, as well as an additional $21.50 a month if they use a 96-gallon cart for recycling pickup.
