Two of the Tri-Cities will switch garbage haulers this summer to Browning-Ferris Industries under new, three-year contracts similar to one proposed last month for a joint Tri-City program.
City councils in Batavia and St. Charles approved the deals Monday that will bring the cost of a one-bag sticker to $1.18 and add to the list of recyclable materials collected at curbside. Both contracts begin July 1.
“We were for it when it was a three-way deal, and we’re for it on an individual basis,” said St. Charles Mayor Fred Norris. “It really pushes us forward in expanding the amount we recycle.”
The new service will rely on a bag-and-tag system in which residents affix pre-purchased stickers to every bag of garbage. The more one recycles, the less is thrown away, thereby lowering a resident’s garbage costs.
Batavia officials praised the contract terms, as well, saying it was a much better deal than the current arrangement with Fox Valley Disposal, a Waste Management subsidiary that also serves St. Charles. In Batavia, the cost of sticker will increase from $1.13, but under the new contract residents will be able to recycle junk mail, mixed paper, waxed juice boxes, aluminum containers and polystyrene along with the usual bottles, cans, milk jugs and newspapers.
Assistant city administrator Bob Popeck said Batavia negotiated a special clause in its contract allowing residents to buy pre-printed yard waste bags for $1.52, which works out to be more economical, or use a generic brand and affix a $1.18 garbage sticker.
Browning-Ferris offered Batavia and St. Charles along with Geneva similar contracts in March under a plan that would have created the Tri-City Solid Waste Management Agency.
But Batavia officials balked at creating another layer of government and paying additional administrative costs, while Geneva officials were reluctant to give up the city’s present hauler, the local firm of Speedway Disposal.