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FAQ

What are the things on should be mindful for collection of my waste ?

Please have your automated containers out to the curb by 7:00 am on your collection day (collection times vary & could change without warning).
During winter months please do not place your container out for collection before 6:30 a.m. This may help prevent snowplows from tipping them over.
As per city ordinance, please do not allow your waste containers to sit out on the street longer than 24 hours before and after waste pick-up services.
Please bag all your garbage to help prevent litter. Especially bag plastic grocery sacks, packing peanuts, and shredded paper. Please do not bag recycling and GreenWaste materials unless it is shredded paper.
On pickup day, please make sure the front of your containers face the street. Keep your containers 3 to 4 feet apart and away from other objects such as mailboxes, telephone poles, trees, and vehicles.
Please do not overfill your container. Anything over 4 feet in length is too large for any of the containers. Please cut down large tree branches and boxes. You are responsible for any spillage from your waste container.
Please do not overload your containers with bulky or heavy items such as bricks, construction materials, & appliances.
Please do not put hot ashes or coals in your automated containers. If the containers melt you may be responsible for a replacement fee.
Please do not put anything hazardous , flammable or restricted in your automated containers such as: oil, car batteries, paint, TVs, or any product that is corrosive, flammable, ignitable or reactive. Bring these types of materials to our Household Hazardous Waste Facility for FREE. Call 750-9981 for more details.
Do not put glass in your curbside blue bin as it is not accepted in the blue cans. Glass is very dangerous to those that sort the materials. Please learn the types of materials for recycle.
Please do not put garbage next to your container if it is full. If the materials are recyclable, the landfill has extra dumpsters to use free of charge; if not, regular landfill fees apply.
Please learn what types of materials go in what bin .
Please use your community GreenWaste bins or the weekly GreenWaste curbside service. This really helps decrease the amount of waste ending up in the landfill.

What does the Collection Division offer to businesses?

The Collection Division offers a variety of dumpsters, roll-offs and 90 gallon automated cans. Rates are dependent upon frequency of pick-up. Please refer to our rates page for more information and a copy of our business brochure for print.

I have heard that materials do not decompose in a landfill, is this true?

Waste buried in a sanitary landfill decomposes anaerobic, meaning, the absence of O2 (oxygen). Without oxygen waste breaks down at a very slow rate. In essence, waste we bury today may not decompose for 100s to 1,000s of years as certain waste has a propensity to stick around anyway, such as glass. We have a newspaper that has been buried in our landfill for 38 years! The date on it is March 5, 1968. Dr. William Rathje was involved in what he calls the “Garbage Project” in which he found that waste was not decomposing! Click here for an article on Dr. Rathje submitted by the NY times.
Below is a list of items and the rate they decompose with the help of environmental influences such as moisture and oxygen. Think about these materials in a landfill-mummified.

Banana peel…………...…..…2-5 weeks

Paper……………………........1-3 month

Wool socks………………...….1-5 years

Milk carton……….………..…....5 years

Disposable diaper…………..10-20 years

Tin can………………….....80-100 years

Aluminum can………..….200-400 years

Glass………………….....1 million years

Hard plastic containers………..unknown

What are the tonnages collected for recycling and garbage?

How long has recycling been around?

Recycling has really been around for perhaps thousands of years! For example, ancient cultures thatbegan making metal products, could melt down old broken items like pots or swords and make new ones.More recently, during World War I and II, people would have paper drives and metal drives to collectmaterials for the war effort. Nothing was wasted! When landfilling became a cheap way dispose of trashin the 1940's and 1950's, recycling was less popular. But modern recycling of glass, paper, cans, etc.became more popular again in the 1970's with drop-off recycling centers, and in the late 1980's and1990's with curbside collection. Mother nature is, of course, the ultimate recycler... without the natural decay or composting process, we'd all be covered in leaves and other dead organic matter!

Why a curbside recycling program?

In an effort to help preserve current landfill space, and due to the rise in fuel costs, inflation, federal storm water management requirements, and to help offset funds needed for construction of the new landfill and post landfill closure costs, the County Council has mandated a county wide curbside recycling program. The current landfill is scheduled to close in 2022, and we need to start offsetting that now.

How long has your program been running?

In 1994 we began a network of drop-off recycle dumpster locations throughout Logan city and eventually expanded to all other communities of Cache County. A private curbside recycle company by the name of Sunrise was picking up recyclables in certain locations of Cache County. They went out of business late 2003-early 2004 in which the city launched a voluntary recycle service to select cities (Smithfield to Providence) in Cache County for $6/month. Due to request for the program the service expanded in 2005 to Nibley, Millville, Hyrum, Mendon and Wellsville. On April 25th, 2006 the Cache County council approved a resolution for implementation of a “universal” residential curbside recycle program. The program was implemented in 2 phases. Starting July 2006, the first phase of recycle cans was delivered. In 2007 the rest of the blue cans were delivered to the rest of the county.

Are we required to recycle? Will there be fees enforced for putting recyclables in our black garbage bin?

No, you are not required to recycle or even use the blue bin. The County council approved of a county wide recycling program, but that does not mean that you will be required to recycle. Please be aware that you will still be charged the same fees as those who continue to use and have the blue recycle bins. Everyone is required to help pay for the costs of recycling in the County. Remember also that using the blue bin is much cheaper than having a second black can.

I live on a fixed income and can’t afford to pay for this program, what do I do?

We are aware that there are residents that either don’t have the budget to pay for recycling or who produce relatively little recyclable material. The Solid Waste Advisory Board is in the process of setting up a procedure so that individuals can apply for a rate reduction for cases of hardship. Families may qualify on a case by case basis.

Why should I have to pay to recycle when we have the free community recycle drop-sites?

It is important to understand that the drop-sites were never really free. There are costs involved to provide bins, maintain the bins and drop-sites, fuel costs to haul materials away, and pay monitors to keep the drop-sites clean. Many of the drop-sites started to be abused and received a lot of contamination, causing the other recyclable materials to have to be hauled to the Landfill. These drop-sites have never generated enough money to keep up with the maintenance costs and have received many complaints from nearby residents.

How much money is the city saving or earning from the program?

The recycle program is subsidized by garbage in the amount of 10 cents per resident household per month. This figure can easily change depending on gas prices. The savings are reflected in the cost of dumping in the landfill.

Do I have to clean and wash my recyclables?

It is important that you at least rinse out your recyclables. Some people wash with soap, but it is not necessary. Because recyclables will be used again to make another product, they need to be rinsed out so they will not infect workers that will handle the products with moldy, rotten, or smelly foods.

What are the pros and cons of your program?

PROS: reduction of waste ending up in Logan City landfill; shared cost of recycling in all of Cache County means decreased fees-on “voluntary” or “subscription” it was $6/month and now lowered to $3/month; single-stream container for residents means the program is easy-no sorting; single-stream container for collections-only 1 truck for lots of different materials; cheaper than landfilling-cost to landfill is $29/ton; cost to recycle is $0/ton; automated service-truck does all the work; paper material is made into insulation by a local company; program consideration for residents who may not afford price of recycling by working out a fee waiver program for residents who make less than $26,000/yr.
CONS: trucks run on gas-cannot control price of gas which factors into the budget; more vehicles=more greenhouse gases. An interesting point of reference to our program-we basically collect the materials and give them to a company called Mountain Fiber. Mountain Fiber is in charge of sorting through materials and selling them to the best market for a possible small profit. In is a symbiotic exchange that suits both our needs. However, a con for Mountain Fiber may be the sorting process as it is a single-stream container and if glass gets into the recyclables it may be dangerous to the workers they employ. Workers have been cut by glass. Also, it is a disgusting job sorting through recyclables when people contaminate them with garbage. The con for the Environmental Department is that when people throw things in they are not supposed to, there is contamination problems. We have a 10%-13% contamination rate.

How many residents are signed up?

Before it went “universal” we had over 2,000 residents who signed up in just under 2 years. Basically residents who do not qualify for a fee waiver are billed for services. So this may beg the question, how many residents participate in the program. As of now I believe I can safely say 99% of residents participate. We averaged 50 tons of recyclables per month on the subscription program and now average right around 420 tons per month.

I don’t have any space for a blue recycling container.

The curbside recycling container takes considerably less floor space than does six or seven containers of separated recyclables used traditionally at a drop-site recycling center. What makes this curbside container even better is that you don’t have to keep it sheltered from the rain and snow. The lid should keep recyclables dry so that the container can sit outside instead of taking up space in your garage.

What would happen if everyone stopped recycling?

Disposing of your garbage could become much more expensive. Since everybody would be throwing away everything, landfills would fill up faster. We would have to build more and more to accept all of the new garbage. People who have to live near landfills are generally opposed to building new ones. Many of our natural resources would disappear even faster. The supply of any material on our Earth is limited.While it may seem like we could never run out, if we keep filling our landfills with aluminum, plastic, and steel there will eventually be no more left.

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