Talkin' Trash

 Or, rather, complaining about trash.  Actually, the cost of removing said trash.  

About Spring of 2016 we cancelled our residential trash pick up service.  At that time, it was just DH & I home, as DS1 and family had moved out of our basement and into their own place.  Since DH and I recycle everything that can be recycled, compost everything that can be composted, and burn everything made of wood products (it's somehow satisfying to throw the junk mail into the wood boiler and know you are getting some BTUs out of that annoying stuff that shows up unbidden in your mailbox), we only created roughly one 13-gallon size trash bag per week.  But yet it cost us around $13 a month for that one small weekly bag to be taken away.

We had recently found out that our township offered it's residents monthly trash pick up.  All you had to do was call the township hall, be issued a card, and then bring your trash to the hall parking lot on the designated Saturday for each month at the appropriate time to meet the trash truck.  

BINGO!  WINNER!  15 minute round trip to drop off four measly bags of trash (all of which fit into the wheeled bin we had) once a month for FREE was definitely better than shelling out cash and lugging the trash bin to the end of the driveway and back every week for $13 a month.

So that is what we signed up for, and did, until February of this year (2022), when we were handed a paper on trash drop off day.  That paper, from the trash company, said they were no longer able to provide monthly Saturday service to the township, but if we called the provided phone number and signed up for weekly residential service, they would gladly come to our home and haul away our trash.  Not only would they gladly do that, but they would give us a 20% discount for the first quarter of service we signed up for.

Looking at their website, I found out that weekly service was $95 per quarter.  *CHOKE*  Seriously?!?  More than $30 per month to haul away our one tiny trash bag each week?  Surely they had cheaper plans for those of us who don't generate mountains of trash.

Nope.

And neither did either of the other two trash companies who service our rural area.

Gulp.  I wasn't liking this.  I called the township to see if maybe, hopefully, they were just changing providers and would still be offering the monthly drop off.  

Nope.  They were, due to costs and more importantly, companies not wanting to be available even one Saturday morning a month, totally cancelling the trash service for township residents.  We were on our own to contract with some to deal with our trash.

Well, that really ground my gears.  I called, and called, and researched, and was unbelievingly laughed at by more than one trash company representative when I said I only produce one 13 gallon bag of trash per week, surely they had a lower priced tier for those of us who don't throw away much?  The best I could find was one company who had two price structures: a 96 gallon cart picked up weekly, or a 60 gallon cart picked up weekly.  And nowhere that allowed you to drop trash off to them and pay a per-bag drop off fee.

So, reluctantly, in late February, I signed up for the company that had the 'cheaper' charge for the 'small' 60 gallon cart. $72 per quarter!!  Oh man.  Nearly $300 increase in yearly trash removal cost would have to somehow be worked into our tight budget.

You can imagine how happy (read with dripping sarcasm, please) I was to receive my quarterly bill this month and find out that starting now, there's not only an increase in the service cost for the 60 gallon cart (and still not a plan for those who don't need such a large container), the company is also implementing a weekly fuel surcharge and some county and state fees.  So my quarterly bill will be nearly $79, not $72.  

GRRR.  

Will they do a bi-weekly pickup to save some fuel? I mean, that 60 gallon bin is still not even half full with two weeks of my trash in it. 

NO.  

Sometimes, I wish I had less morals and could be one of those people who just dump their trash in the back of their property.  Or bury it.  Or, maybe, put it in plastic bags from the grocery store and drop said bags into the trash receptacles at gas stations I pass on my way to work.  It's not much trash, after all.  Ought to fit in 3 grocery bags quite handily.  Not a whole lot different from being on a long road trip, and eating in your car and then putting your trash into the trash bin at the next gas station you fuel up at. . .   

Blech. I thought almost $288 a year for trash pickup I don't really need was bad.  $316?!?  Oh man, having morals is expensive.