Wheeled garbage carts will be delivered to Des Plaines residents, along with a garbage collection rate increase, starting in April, despite an alderman’s complaint that the city didn’t extend itself in the bidding process.
The council voted 7-1 Monday on a seven-year contract with ARC Disposal & Recycling that eliminates 32-gallon garbage cans now in use. Ald. Carla Brookman said that to better compare costs, aldermen should have solicited bids for continuing the current trash-collection arrangement. Brookman said she has heard no complaints about the system and voted against the contract.
The Mt. Prospect company has collected trash in 32-gallon cans for seven years, and aldermen chose ARC’s bid of $17.50 per month for single-family homes after soliciting bids in October for service that includes rolling 95-gallon garbage carts and rolling 65-gallon recycling carts.
ARC’s current contract costs homeowners about $14.65 per month, officials said. Residents use standard garbage cans and rectangular 19-gallon recycling bins. Several aldermen said the new carts are convenient, have no weight restrictions, encourage recycling and promote worker safety because they are emptied by automated arms on trucks.
“I get the feeling I’m being sold on this new idea,” said Walt Dibbern, a 38-year resident of the 1400 block of Oakwood Avenue. “I think there’s going to be more profit in it for [ARC].”
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Richard Bulthius, municipal affairs and business manager for ARC, said the new carts and automated waste-hauling trucks have raised the company’s costs.
About a half dozen residents opposed the carts for reasons including cost and fear of navigating them on tight driveways or in snowy conditions.