Highland residents due new trash cans as transition to new hauler continues

Highland residents will get new trash cans so Republic Services can automate collection in the coming months.

The city renewed its contract last month with Republic Services, which bought out the previous garbage collector last year. Robert Sanders Waste Systems operated from 1936 until last July, when residents were informed it had been sold to Republic. The transition was rocky.

The two companies had different employment processes and shifts, and there were several days of missed pickups and a lot of phone calls from angry residents for the first few weeks. However, City Manager Chris Conrad said the issues have been resolved.

“The only complaints now are the errant miss or service interruptions due to truck issues,” he said.

When the contract came up, the city posted a request for proposals and Republic was the only bidder. Waste services are set at $30 a month for residential service and $46 a month for commercial non-containerized waste. Residents aged 65 or older receive a 10% discount.

The proposal also indicated that waste collection would be 60% automated and 40% rear-load service. Republic is spending $75,000 to purchase the trash cans for automated collection and replacing some containers. One 95-gallon trash can will be included for each household at no charge to residents or the city.

Up until now, Highland has had unlimited rear-load service, many years after other communities switched to automated “containerized” trash service. Prior to this change, waste collectors would pick up pretty much anything residents left out by the curb, Conrad said.

Now residents will have the one large can provided by Republic, and each resident can call and schedule a bulk pickup up to four times a year when they have more trash than can fit in the can. Residents will have to plan ahead, however.

This will take some time, Conrad said: it’s about 6-9 months to provide the containers for everyone.

“Containerized (trash collection) is not new; it’s just new to Highland,” Conrad said. “We were lucky to be able to keep unlimited services for as long as we did, but we’re limited on our choices and this is the way the industry is going…. Containerized has worked in many other communities, so I’m sure it will work itself out here as well.”

Residents also will be allowed five bags a week for leaves and yard waste. Conrad said they’ll be looking at a citywide option for weeks when yard waste would be really heavy. If everyone has twenty bags of yard waste, waste collectors could be stuck just on one cul-de-sac for a long time, Conrad said.

“We are a Tree City U.S.A.,” he said. “There are some issues unique to that.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2023 at 7:00 AM.