December 2021
Neighbors,
Inflation and other factors have made it necessary for the Upper Frying Pan Valley Caucus to raise the monthly rate for the trash and recycling containers.
The new rate will be $40 a month, a $10 a month increase. This change was proposed by me and approved by the executive committee of the caucus at its meeting on November 1, 2021.
The new rate will be effective January 1, 2021. Those of you who have already made advance payments that extend past that date will not have to pay the new fees until your payments run out.
Here’s the reason for the increase:
The old rate, $30 a month, was instituted July 1, 2017. At that time, the fee charged by Waste Management to empty our garbage bin were $1,229. For our most recent hauloff, Waste Management charged $1,792 — an increase of more than 45 per cent in the three and one-half years since the monthly charge was established.
Much of the increase in Waste Management’s bill, according to the company, stems from the rising cost of diesel fuel for the trucks it uses to empty the garbage bin.
Meanwhile, we experienced extensive use of our bin in 2021, caused in part by summer residents’ returning in force after COVID-19 restrictions, in part by new owners and renters moving in and old ones moving out (inevitably generating more trash and garbage) and, possibly, in part by unauthorized use by people who obtained the lock combinations without paying.
It’s tough to figure how inflation will go in the years ahead, but you can help control our fees.
- Please use the recycling bin as much as possible. Pitkin County supports recycling by subsidizing our cost. Our recycling container has 50 percent of the capacity of our trash and garbage bin, but costs only 25 percent as much to empty. Cardboard, aluminum cans, glass and paper — which if separated amount to most of the volume of most households’ refuse — are all acceptable in the recycling bin.
- Close the combination locks and scramble the numbers after each use.
- Don’t disclose the combination to others. If someone wants the combination, please have them call me at 970-927-0339. I can determine whether they have paid.
- Take construction debris, furniture, appliances and bulky items to the Pitkin County landfill, which is nine miles east of Basalt on Colorado 82. Many items cost little or nothing to leave there.
Thanks for your help.
Monroe Dodd
Upper Frying Pan Valley Caucus Community Trash and Recycling Program
