Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

I’m dismayed at the push for mandatory trash pickup. The reasons to oppose mandatory trash pick-up here are many.

1. Cost:  Mandatory trash pickup is in the range of $40 and up per pick-up or more per month. Many currently pay $10/month or less, even with two large bags full per month.

2. Bear attractants:  Trash cans at every household waiting to be picked up are bear attractants with bears paying the price.

3. Loss of incentive for waste reduction:  Little incentive for waste reduction with flat-rate mandatory trash pick-up. We need incentives for waste reduction. The current pay-by-the-pound policies at the dump provide incentives for folks to recycle what they can and to reduce their waste.

4. Doesn’t solve problems: Will not solve the problem of people choosing to dump trash here, there and everywhere, particularly since such a regulation would only apply to those within the city limits and much of the borough trash dumping is done outside the city limits.

Better options would be to offer a better price structure for kitchen-size or full-size trash bags more comparable to current costs by weight, which would be closer to $6 for a large trash bag. (My own large bag usually costs $4 or less currently.) Another option would be a free glass dumpster. This would save time and the labor of weighing it. The price per pound could be raised to 50 cents/pound to compensate.

The community needs better options.

Kathleen Menke