Town will hear garbage can input

[WNYresident]

from www.cheektowagatimes.com


Town will hear garbage can input


Residents will have an opportunity Monday to provide their thoughts about a local variance under consideration by the town board that would require the use of metal or high quality plastic containers at the curb for garbage collection.

The use of sturdy containers in place of plastic bags has been studied by the board and town officials for several months.

Councilmember Alice Magierski said that Sanitation Supervisor Chris Kowal told her that roughly 60 percent of town residents already use plastic or metal containers.

Residents would still be allowed to place garbage in plastic bags, but those bags must be contained within a metal or heavy-duty plastic garbage can with a lid.

Magierski noted that New York State and Erie County health codes mandate storing garbage in these containers when they are not at the curbside for pickup.

The board was to discuss the container issue at its work session late Wednesday. The meeting began after the Times editorial deadline.

Councilmember Alice Magierski said that there are some town officials such as Kowal and Supervising Building and Plumbing Inspector Thomas Adamczak who would like to see the change made as soon as possible. However, Magierski believes that residents should be provided some time to make the switch.

"We need to be aware of the people’s reaction to change," Magierski said. "We don’t want to throw this out to the people without giving them a chance to voice concerns they may have."

Magierski added that the board may allow garbage cans without lids to be placed at the curb, similar to a Kenmore provision. This would ease the fear of the lids blowing away, she said.

"According to state and county housing mandates, the cans should be covered when they are (inside) the premises," Magierski added. "All we’ll be doing at this point is enforcing the state and county mandates."

According to Magierski, the proposal has the support of several taxpayer and homeowner groups. She added that a change in the code would also assist the town in its battle against a rodent infestation.

"All of the experts and professionals have told us that the food source– garbage– is the highest cause of the rodent problem," Magierski said. "We really need to address it."

A public hearing is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Town Hall. The meeting will be preceded by a public comment period at 6:45 p.m. If the public comment period does not last the entire 15 minutes, the meeting could begin early.

[Riven37]

I use my big breen rubbermaid trash can I bought for $20.00 from home depot a few yrs back...keeps the rats away....

[Night Owl]

"We need to be aware of the people’s reaction to change," Magierski said. "We don’t want to throw this out to the people without giving them a chance to voice concerns they may have."

The City of Buffalo took days in distributing Blue bickets to every house - the buckets stay with the house. There was no "let's wait and see" debate on this. The City of Buffalo just did it, no dicussions, no waiting... and the people have adjusted just fine.

It was no disruption to our lives.

Cheektowaga should just make the change and the residents will have to deal with it, it's what we did in Buffalo... and after 2 years, it has improved on our quality of life and rodent control, and we roll our trash out to curb without even thinking about it anymore.

[OneEmerald]

I live in Cheektowaga but work in Buffalo (Love Joy area). I have always kept my trash in a rubber maid trash can since I do not have a garage or other storage area. But I notice a lot of people in Cheektowaga just put the bags to the curb. Where do they store it during the week??

I noticed a big difference on garbage day where I work since the large cans were provided by the city. It is definately cleaner and neater looking. The guys just roll the can to the back of the truck and the can is mechanically dumped into the back of the truck. You don't see alot of garbage laying in the street since the cans seem to empty everything into the truck.

Cheektowaga, I have been told, won't use this system since the trucks break down a lot. The trucks in Love Joy seem to be working just fine since theyare there like clock work on Wednesday morning.