Jul 30, 2008 8:04 am US/Central
Mayor's Office: New Garbage Pickup Will Cut Costs
But Business Groups, Ald. Brendan Reilly Remain Skeptical
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The City Council is meeting Wednesday morning to consider a plan that would result in dramatic changes to city garbage pickup.
The plan would divide the city into roughly 15 districts with an exclusive waste hauler for the businesses and multi-unit residences in each one. Supporters say it would lower costs for most businesses, and boost recycling rates.
Despite those assurances from chief environmental officer Sadhu Johnston-and the potential for a windfall for Chicago taxpayers – business groups and downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) expressed skepticism toward the revolutionary change earlier this week.
The mayor's plan would impact 1.9 million tons of waste and recyclables generated each year by commercial, industrial and institutional customers as well as multi-family buildings.
The Daley administration would divide the city into about 15 districts and choose one waste hauler for each district after competitive bidding. Existing refuse collection contracts would be phased out over a 15 month period.
The city would collect an administrative fee to oversee the program that has ranged from 2 percent of gross revenues in some cities to as high as 22 percent in Miami.
"The free market is better able to generate advantageous pricing than a monopolistic system," said Michael Cornicelli, executive vice-president of the Building Owners and Managers Association.
"Currently, if I'm a customer dissatisfied with my hauler's service, I'm free to terminate that contract and go to someone else. I would not have that option under the [mayor's] plan. We would be relying on the city to enforce performance terms."
Reilly applauded the Daley administration for "thinking creatively and outside the box." But, the alderman said he's not at all certain that a system that worked smoothly in Skokie would translate to Chicago's massive central business district.
"We have much larger businesses, hundreds of thousands of square feet of building space and the garbage that comes with those tenants. My real concern is that we're careful not to create an anti- competitive environment that could lead to consumers footing higher bills,' Reilly said.
Apparently referring to the Hired Truck scandal, Reilly said, Members of the City Council want strong assurances that there are very stringent accountability measures in place to guard against potential abuse in the bidding process and to ensure that service quality is not diminished."
Johnston said the city's goal is to reduce business costs and minimize truck traffic, thereby cutting pollution and eliminating wear and tear on city streets. In Skokie, nearly nine out of ten businesses saw their waste hauling costs drop by 44 percent. The rest saw no increase, he said.
The STNG Wire contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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