Possible Solutions to the Flawed Garbage Plan

Under the deeply flawed Dyster garbage plan, the larger bin is for recycling and the smaller one is for garbage. Simply reversing the two will solve most of the problem with the plan.

The Niagara Falls Reporter has learned that negotiations are underway to correct the flawed garbage disposal plan originally conceived by Mayor Paul Dyster and City Administrator Donna Owens.

Sources say the plan will not commence in August as originally planned but will now not begin until January.

Under a temporary agreement between the city and Modern Disposal, residents can presently pile any quantity of garbage on the curb in bags or garbage cans and it will be picked up.

Once the new contract goes into effect, each family will have only one 64 gallon tote per week to dispose of garbage.

To give you an idea of how small that is: typically a person can fit three-to-four kitchen garbage bags into a 64 gallon container.

Unless the plan is changed, all a family will get is one 64 gallon (blue) tote (picked up every week) and one 96 gallon (green) tote for recycling (picked up every two weeks).

Since Modern will not pick up more than the allotted amount of garbage per household, people will likely throw it in empty lots or alleyways. Furthermore, if people put garbage in the recycling bins, Modern will not take it.

One of the problems with Niagara Falls' garbage plan is that, unlike other municipalities, there was no point person assigned to resolve issues and work with the public.

Another problem is that the city did not set up enforcement plans in advance. They do not have an educational program where city representatives go to schools and club meetings such as seniors, Elks, or Lions Clubs.

To solve the overall problem with the plan, the city might consider setting up a pay-as-you-throw program where people can buy extra garbage bags, especially marked (sold for about $2 each) or allow people to purchase additional totes for $50 each, as they do in Lockport.

Dyster could also change the labels on the totes and reverse the green 96 gallon, which is for recycling, and make that for trash, and change the too-small, blue 64 gallon tote now scheduled for trash to recycling.

Since Modern charges for both stops and quantity, if the city makes this switch, the stops Modern is required to make will not increase, and while tonnage will increase a certain extent, it will conform to what people actually throw out as garbage and recyclables.

Dyster should also do his best to educate the people on how to increase recycling, since that is the hallmark of his plan.

As the plan stands now, it is entirely untenable. It is clear that, not only will there be no savings, as Dyster originally suggested, but the plan is inadequate, vastly flawed and will cost far more than what the city is paying now.

It needs to be entirely rewritten.