Kids have a bad habit of asking for something over and over and over until parents break down and say “OK”. Some may experience these battles in shopping centers, restaurants and of course at home. The energy from both sides spent on a very predictable outcome, while funny sometimes, is an absolute drain on everyone around. Sometimes these battles happen within your own city.
Every few years, the subject of waste hauling comes back up to the surface and the idea of eliminating the choice that residents have always had and selecting one company to handle everyone’s garbage on one day picks up pace. The argument makes sense. Less trucks in less days reduces the wear and tear on our roads and makes our neighborhoods safer to navigate through. I get it. But the reality is vastly different. Not a single company can handle the entire city. In fact, yesterday Summit Waste & Recycling passed by my house six times inside of a few hours, and I don’t even use Summit. In previous years I talked to vendors servicing Wheat Ridge who told me they could not service the entire city in one day.
The city expressed at a May 6 council meeting that it has no agenda in mind. They simply respond to the requests and gauge what residents want. A Wheat Ridge Residential Waste Engagement survey being conducted from Summer 2023 to Fall 2024 cost $140,000 and currently shows the largest group of respondents (44%) saying that they thought the current waste system works well.
Another group (41%) said they did not think the system is working well. I think making sure that every hauler is licensed in wheat ridge, offers recycling and employs drivers of a certain caliber is needed. We can all agree that everything can be improved but overall most city councilors agreed that the system should be improved but remain unchanged.
Here’s the interesting thing….. 15% voted that they were “indifferent.” The survey interprets that as 15% that could be swayed or convinced to request a change. Last time I checked, indifferent meant they voted that they don’t actually care. Otherwise I would say, hey, that’s 59% of residents that do not want their garbage hauling changed. Almost the same as the last time we were asked this same question a few years ago.
Stay tuned for more as the conversation and study continues through the summer. Regardless of the final numbers, it will be interesting to see how the results are actually interpreted.
As a sidebar… I must have missed the survey on needing to consolidate all package delivery vendors (UPS, FEDEX, Amazon, DHL etc…). After all, deliveries every hour on every day is tough on our roads.
As always, thanks for reading.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Neighborhood Gazette or its staff.
