Dragging these new trash Bins to the main road?

[roadrnnr]

Is anybody upset about having to drag these huge things up to the main road? We live on a dirt road that is away's from the main road. I use to bring my trash up to the road in my 4 wheeler but these things are not going to fit in it. What about the elderly who will have to do this?
So we are paying an extra $225 on top of what we allready paid for what. To do most of cassellas work for them so they don't have to get out of the truck.

This is BS and I am surprised more people are not POff!

[mrs.freddie]

Hi roadrnnr, I plan to call Casella to ask for a 64G trash cart.  You can call to request smaller size carts: 651-5400 and anyone in town can request smaller sizes in either trash or recycling.  96G Trash is too big for our garage, and we don't come close to filling our 64G every week. No way we need that big a trash cart.  We want the 96G recycling-we have several overflowing blue recycling bins out each week now so that size makes sense. 

It's my understanding that the carts are made so they can be collected by the same dual-compartment side loading packer trucks, but I'm pretty sure they can be any size cart.  Those automated arm trucks only need one driver usually, and that one truck has 2 compartments for both trash and recycling, so it does the whole route.  One less driver, one less heavy fume-emitting truck on my road, one less time my dog barks when they come on Thursdays.

What are you referring to about with the 'extra $225'?  Are we being charged separately for the carts? 

[roadrnnr]

On your recent tax bill there is a $225 trash Surcharge per household.

The whole point is this type of pickup does not work in a country setting. As far as I know this was never laid out in the proposal we voted on.  Even the 96 gallon containers are to big to lug up to the main road when you live an  several thousand feet from the main road. Our road also has no level ground or space to line up all our 4 houses carts the way they want them placed. The driver is getting out of the truck at our stop no ands.ifs.or buts, period. I imagine it will be this way at most stops.

[logical]

We have not yet received bins.  Are they still distributing them or did they forget us?!

[trussell]

Logical, I think they were going to be distributed this week or next.  I received a letter last week.

It wasn't clear, however, about the limits.  Are we still limited to one large trash bag?  Or are we now allowed to fill up the trash can?  Does everything still need to be bagged up?  For instance- I bought a water heater and had very large pieces of styrofoam to dispose of.  It would be much easier to simply throw them into the bin loose.

I agree though roadrnnr- While I personally welcome this change, having only to roll them 108 feet, I suspect a majority of residents won't have the same fondness.

[nhibbard]

I like the bins, but I agree that this is just another time when someone didn't ask enough questions when signing a contract and now we find out that minor details matter. I'm not against this but it's a little confusing since I thought recycling was unlimited and don't they just crush recycling, why do I have to break things down? What will happen at Christmas time?

I'd question if the vendor had permission to make this change and if they did, who approved it.

I don't believe we are paying "extra". They just pulled out the amount of taxes for this and made it an additional line item on the tax bill as far as I knew. If that's not true, who knows.

[johnmitchell]

It will be a challenge for the many private road residents to move the bins to an area for pick up.  One will need a truck to move them to the area and two people to load them in them in the truck.  Not well thought out for sure and it reminds me of an analogy that " a camel is a horse designed by a committee" .  I observed this a great deal while in Montpelier!

[logical]

Yes, that is exactly true.  If you live on a private road we already have to bring trash/recycling up to the main road.  Which we are used to.  But having to truck 2 big barrels each week will be a big change and for some a big challenge.  Interestingly we have not received any letter which was referenced so I have no idea what is going on!  I have noticed many on the main road near us with the new barrels.   

[ssweet]

We called and asked for the smaller (30ish gal) barrels which they delivered to us last week.  They are still a lot bigger than the one we have had for over 30yrs.  We have our new barrels to the curb today hopefully facing the correct way!  Not sure where we will put them in the winter time with the snow banks.  Also they did not roll well in our crushed stone driveway. 

[Pete King]

Hello All,
You should check with Stacy Wells, the Selectboard Assistant, to see if the private road address where you reside, can be utilized by Cassella, to pick up your trash at your driveway entrance. I understand that this
activity is ongoing in Fairfax. Hope this helps you.

[nancyd]

Hi all. This is causing a dilemma for me, as I am a senior and
Live back on a long driveway...very long. I can't roll those huge bins. So I'm going to get a metal
Small platform  on wheels to hook to my mule . That's the only way
I can get the bins down. Anyone have such a trailer to sell???

[trussell]

It looks like several homes are opting to simply leave the bins at the end of their driveways, lol.

[Norton]

This is insane.  I recognize this may not be an issue for those who live in town and have a short paved run to the curb.  But that's not most of us.

Those of us with thousand-foot gravel driveways can't haul those huge things around even in the summer, much less the winter.  And the people who live on smaller roads (over 100 of them listed!) will have to go further and leave their bins ..............well, I don't know.  I guess they will just have to find a spot somewhere on land they don't own.

How big a spot?  To put the two bins the way they specify in their letter, you need a flat, level spot (free of snow of course!) that is at least fifteen feet by nine feet, with no overhead lines or branches.  For lots of us, this space simply does not exist.

The bins need to be "no more than 6' from edge of curb".  Of course most of us don't have curbs, but if they mean the edge of the road then they are ordering us to put the bins where the snowbank is.

Assuming I even have a flat level spot big enough and in the right place, how do I handle my snowplowing?  It usually happens when I'm not around to help.  Are all the snowplowing guys in town going to get out of their trucks, move the bins out of the way, plow the spot for the bins and then put them back?  I don't think so.  And even if they are willing, should I have to pay the additional cost?

Everyone with long driveways will have to leave the bins in place all the time, so all of us that live in Fairfax will have to get used seeing to those two big ugly plastic boxes hanging out at the end of everyone's driveways all the time, forever.  Not just on pickup day, but ALL THE TIME.

Casella is investing lots of money in this switch, and it obviously wasn't decided last week.  When we voted last spring on how to handle our trash, was this change already planned?  Seems likely.  Did Casella tell the select board (or anyone else) about it?  If not, why not?  And if so, why did our select board not mention it to us in preparation for the vote?  Or at least recognize the fundamental stupidity of this approach?

And why isn't someone from Casella contributing to this discussion?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like this has been forced on us.  We voted just a few months ago about how to handle the trash and weren't told about this change, so we didn't know what we were choosing.  I don't see any reason why we should passively accept this.

[mkr]

Call Casella and they will swap you out with smaller ones. Which is totally your option.

Complaining about it on here does you no good folks. Take action and call them.  Mrs. Freddie gave the number up above.

[Norton]

Well, maybe it seems like "complaining to you".  I didn't intend it that way.  I thought I was pointing out that this is a unilateral action, that we were not consulted, that it appears Casella was planning this change when we voted last spring but kept it from us, and that as customers we shouldn't be expected to just take this kind of treatment.

Sure, I could ask for smaller containers, and that would work for the modest amount of trash we generate.  Will they have bigger wheels so they roll on gravel?  Will that mean I don't have to maintain a large plowed space for them?  Will they fit in my car like the old ones?  Will that remove the eyesore of thousands of them sitting next to our roads all the time?  Will they even be significantly lighter than the smaller ones once they have trash in them?

No.  Smaller containers don't fix the fundamental issue.

Pointing out that we have been deceived and treated unfairly isn't "complaining".  It could be called "taking action", since anything that only one person does will never change what Casella does.  It would take a group of us.