Submitted by James Bisceglia.
Residential curbside glass recycle service in Tacoma ends on January 4, 2021. Thereafter I must take my time, use my vehicle to drive my glass, which I need to put in a separate container, to one of four locations. I still pay the same amount, $50 per month, for solid waste and recycle collection. The city has reduced customer service, transferred the burden to residents and added an additional fee for recycling services which they now forces me to transport to them.
How does the City of Tacoma still have the nerve to include the word service in their description of the refuse department. It seems that there is little or no management effort put forth to solve their employee expense situation but, to stick the cost for their lack of effort onto Tacoma residents. With collection driver salaries from $75,000 to $105,000 without the generous benefits the city provides it is too easy for management to pass the buck to Tacoma residents.
There are many potential unintended consequences that were likely not considered when the Refuse department came up with the idea to force their customers to deliver their own garbage. We can hope our road sides, parks and vacant properties don’t become littered with glass. Commercial and business locations can expect to find more glass dropped off in their garbage containers or just left behind their buildings.
Unfortunately residents of Tacoma don’t have access to competitors for garbage service and so are captives of the city.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
Stuckin Tacoma says
I don’t know how I came across this, but it’s relevant! I moved to Tacoma a few years back and I was taken aback at how expensive it is to get rid of trash. I live in an apartment (a multi-family home converted to residence). There are 3 units here. There is only 1 trash can. I have bags of trash sitting in my kitchen because I cannot use my own trash can. And I can’t take the excess trash to a transfer station _for free_ because apartments are exempt. So I have to either drive all my trash to a transfer station and pay there, or call Tacoma’s call to haul and pay minimum $75 and stack all my trash out front which is unsightly and embarrassing. And I don’t generate excess amounts of waste either. I’m talking 4 kitchen bags per week tops (for 3 people). It’s very annoying and I can’t wait to get the hell out of Tacoma.
P ROSE says
Sour grapes! Residential glass simply goes in the garbage can. So does the little recycle container, or better yet, in the recycle container.
Steve vigneron says
Reducing service but not the charge for the service? What “city of” employee thought this was a super idea? Did that same employee get a bonus because he thought outside the box??? Will that government genius please go pick up the glass of those without an automobile.? Or maybe the new BRT bus line will have glass carriers for customers to these chosen “sites”. {Nice work if you can get it.}
Jeff Laskowski says
In la-la-liberal lobotomy land where they embrace activists like Greta Thunberg, you would think they would have at least one brain cell working ……..
Slick Mick says
You sound like an IDIOT, maybe try forming a thought without your stupid obsession with liberals.
Jeff Laskowski says
Do you know who your elected officials are ……. ?
John B Osborn says
Screw China!!, They send us generic drugs loaded with carcinogens,let’s send them all our recycles including glass. Reduced service for no reduction in rates or a rate increase doesn’t make a lot of sense but then most of what the city government does anymore doesn’t make sense either. EVerything will wind up in the regular garbage and the city can deal with it.
Mike Costanti says
Jim is right. First they cut garbage service from once a week to every two weeks and now they eliminate glass pic up with continual increase in fees. The result besides less service is maggots in my garbage during the Summer. The time has come for the Tacoma City Council to put trash hauling out for bid. There are at least two companies that are capable of bidding. Then let the refuse department bid for the contract and compete for the business.
Scooter says
Welcome to the upside down world of conservation! Only in Pierce county does recycling entity pick up glass in one of the larger cities but not in others!
Glass stopped being recycled because there is no longer a profit being made, so they tried to force the burden onto citizens!
Toss the glass into a container and/or inform your landlord of the lack of recycling, garbage containers OR allow health department to oblige by contacting them on their tip line!
Regular Joe says
Every little service item is becoming very expensive in Tacoma. Why?
Tacoma sewer service is so expensive that it would be cheaper for me to have a septic system installed every 18 years. While that’s not allowed, it illustrates that something is amiss with city management. How can a small, single-home system built by expensive contractors be cheaper that a city-wide plant that should have efficiency at scale? The sewer lines in my neighborhood are over 100 years old, so it’s not due to infrastructure costs. Treated sewage is dumped into the bay, so unlike with recycling there’s no third party driving up costs. Where is all this money going?