search
Donate

Athens residents will soon receive new trash cans. What happens to the existing ones?

By:
Posted on:

< < Back to

ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Athens residents will receive new cans under a contract with the city’s new trash collector.

The question now is what happens with all the existing cans. And the answer seems to be that some may get recycled and some will end up in the landfill.

More than 4,700 customers receive trash and recycling service in the city. This means there are likely more than 9,000 trash and recycling cans that will be replaced.

These are different size options of the trash cans Athens residents will receive under the city's new contract with Rumpke Waste and Recycling. The cans are part of the extra cost residents will pay under the new contract.
These are different size options of the trash cans Athens residents will receive under the city’s new contract with Rumpke Waste and Recycling. The cans are part of the extra cost residents will pay under the new contract. [Jack Greene | WOUB]
The city had the choice to sign a contract without new cans. This was a cheaper option, but city officials wanted cans in the city to be uniform for aesthetic reasons.

Also, some customers are using large cans and paying the same rate as those with much smaller cans, officials said. Having uniform cans eliminates this problem.

But it has created another in terms of what to do with all the existing cans.

Rumpke has not yet said what its plans are. Jeff Meyers, a spokesman for Rumpke Waste and Recycling, the city’s new provider, said the company is “working on communications now which will provide clear direction on what Athens customers will need to do prior to service starting.”

He said customers will receive additional information before service under Rumpke begins Jan. 2.

David Riggs, the city’s director of code enforcement, said the city has been working with Rumpke to figure out what to do with existing trash and recycling cans.

He said Rumpke will pick up the old cans. His understanding is the trash cans are likely too contaminated to make recycling them a practical option and will end up in the landfill.

He encourages people to find another use for their trash cans if they can.

As for the recycling cans, Riggs said Rumpke believes it will be able to recycle the blue cans the city provided to residents a few years ago.

He said Rumpke will have to remove a metal bar and axle from the cans and then try to find a place that will take them and recycle them into something new.

He said his office is also thinking about providing the new recycling cans only as existing ones break and need to be replaced.

Riggs said residents can expect to get new trash and recycling cans starting in February or March.