Dive Brief:
- The Chicago City Council's Budget Committee has advanced an ordinance that would eliminate a grandfather clause which has allowed 1,839 multi-unit residential buildings to get free trash collection. The freebie has cost Chicago taxpayers $3.3 million a year.
- In 2000, the council formalized a policy that single-family homes and small buildings would receive trash collection from the city, but buildings larger than four units were required to hire private collection services. All of the large buildings receiving free garbage collection before that date were "grandfathered" in until the buildings were sold. Due to poor system monitoring, many of these ineligible buildings are still getting free pickup.
- Even with the ordinance, 600,000 households will continue to get free garbage collection, which is something that newly-elected Ald. Brian Hopkins is hoping to change.
Dive Insight:
Weeding out buildings that were not eligible for free pickup is a start. But what's next for Chicago?
Hopkins argues that all homeowners must pay a garbage collection fee to create a level of fairness throughout the city. "One homeowner gets free pickup provided by the city and literally the next-door neighbor has to pay an additional fee to contract with a private waste hauler. That's a fundamental unfairness that I don't have an answer to right now," he said.
Hopkins notes that a citywide monthly collection fee would also be an incentive for residents to separate their recyclables from trash and provide revenue for enhanced service.
