Monday night was the final meeting of the MBSCT.   There was a time for the committee to listen to and ask questions of the haulers.  All of the haulers echoing the need for free enterprise and competition as a way to not only keep prices low but a way to make sure customer service is kept as a very high priority.  They all would love to get to a “one hauler one neighborhood” situation but they all believe this should be done through free enterprise not through government dictation.  These items were the same from the haulers as they have been from the citizens over the previous 4 meetings around the county. With the findings of the MBSCT expected to be presented to the BOC around the March 17th time frame it should be interesting to not only see what the findings and recommendations are but to see how the committee actually publishes them.

Being there and hearing the interaction of a few was very educational as far as this group goes.  To me where the meeting got interesting was in the “closed” session that occurred after the “open” public session. There were 4 important things that stood out to me in this discussion.

1. The majority of the MBSCT want each of us to have mandatory pickup with limited exceptions. The exceptions would have to be defined and I guess you would have to have a written note from someone somewhere to qualify for it otherwise you have to pay for the trash service
2. The majority of the MBSCT are in favor of moving haulers into districts and allowing them to bid on the districts. IE: There would be 8 districts and a hauler could bid on one or more of these districts. This would allow for “one hauler one neighborhood” thus allowing for less traffic on the street. One thing I did not understand is how this allows for residents to choose. Does this allow for the pricing to be set in the bids through the county instead of through the residents themselves?
3. The majority of the MBSCT agree we need more recycling but the question I have is how do you encourage it. One of the haulers mentioned they are partnered with RecycleBank but have not implemented the program due to the uncertainty of the the current situation.
4. The majority of the MBSCT believe the only way to make sure that all of us residents are toeing the line is to put the trash bill on our tax bill.

One other thing that was mentioned by the Committee Chairman was that he hoped that the documents the members were passing around via email would not end up on websites like this one.  As you can see we do not have any of the documents but we hope those documents would be released for review in due course.   Even though they are not elected officials it would seem to me that if the goal of this committee in the beginning was to be an open and citizen driven group that they would not care if other citizens saw the documents as well.

GDP article by Jamie Ward: Solid waste plan: Recycler gives input at meeting
Committee to give commissioner recommendations by March 17

AJC article by Patrick Fox: Garbage panel recommends mandatory pick-up

The committee’s draft, finalized after two hours of public comment at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center in Lawrenceville, calls for establishing exclusive service zones for waste haulers. The panel was divided over whether to allow more than one hauler per zone, but it did suggest that such a program would need to be phased in over time.

The panel leaned heavily in favor of mandatory trash service for all residential properties, although it provided for exceptions, such as business owners with trash service at work and property owners who can prove a residence is unoccupied.

Members were close to unanimous in advocating increased recycling options and establishing some authority to monitor customer complaints.