ATHENS, Ohio — Athens residents learned about coming changes to trash services during a panel discussion and Q&A event held by the Sustainable Waste Ad Hoc Committee of Athens County’s Future Action Network on Dec. 13 at the Athens Community Center.
The recently formed committee held the event to discuss opposition to the city’s decision to work with Rumpke Waste & Recycling over Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers, Inc., as well as potential solutions.
Bidding for the city’s trash services began in 2022. After an inconclusive first round of bidding, council forfeited its power to select a trash hauler this past summer, passing the duty to Service-Safety Director Andy Stone, who chose Rumpke. The company will begin service to approximately 4,775 customers in Athens on Jan. 1, 2024.
The city had to accept Rumpke’s bid, council members stated at the public meeting, because state law requires entities to accept the lowest and best bid. The Post estimated the annual cost of Rumpke’s bid at a little over $2 million annually, compared to around $2.3 annually under AHRC’s bid. (Neither figure includes the cost of new cans). Contracting with AHRC would have cost the city an additional $1.7 million over a 4-year period.
The Dec. 13 panel featured Ed Newman, Rural Action’s Zero Waste program co-director; Adam Kody, operations director at Appalachian Center for Economic Networks, Inc.; Molly Jo Stanley, southeast Ohio regional director at the Ohio Environmental Council; Athens County Commissioner Chris Chmiel; and AHRC Human Resources Manager and Executive Director-to-be Crissa Cummings.
A COG in the solution
In a statement to city council when the city awarded the bid in November, Stone said he would explore the feasibility of “returning solid waste collection to be a government function, either operated completely by employees of the city or as a partnership with other communities under a council of governments.”
Formation of a COG was a major topic of discussion at the Dec. 13 meeting. According to Cummings, a COG “the best path forward” for AHRC. The Independent reported that the city of Athens is currently reviewing potential bylaws for such an organization.
Councilman Sam Crowl, 3rd Ward, expressed support for a COG and said that something should have been done sooner.
“Should we have tried to do a council of governments a year or so ago and not waited for some sort of an emergency situation? Absolutely,” he said.
Crowl added that the cities of Athens, Logan and Nelsonville, the village of Amesville, the county and the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District have met or have upcoming meetings to discuss the COG. Logan, Nelsonville, Amesville and Athens Township officials did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
“There has been no participant who said ‘This is crazy, we don’t want to do this.’ But everybody has said we have to figure this out,” Crowl said.
In his statement to the council in November, Stone voiced concerns about working with Rumpke.
“I am concerned about the long-term risk caused by this course of action, in that it may set
conditions for Rumpke to establish a monopoly on solid waste collection in the region,” Stone said. “There has already been concern about their purchase of the nearest landfill and its impact on collection, and a decrease in the number of haulers in the area.”
The cans are coming
Another topic at the Dec. 13 meeting was Rumpke’s agreement with the city to provide more than 9,000 new trash receptacles — large carts on wheels — to Athens customers.
At its Dec. 11 meeting, council approved 2024 trash rates, including the purchase of new receptacles, as part of Rumpke’s contract. In March 2024, Rumpke will begin delivering trash carts to residences “based on the typical trash volumes placed at the curb,” the company said in a statement.
Current city trash rates are based on the type of housing unit — owner-occupied or rental — with a base rate for one or two 32-gallon cans plus an additional fee per bag or container. That system creates a “trash equity” issue, said council member Alan Swank, 4th Ward.
At the Dec. 13 meeting, Swank said he wants the city to continue to use the current blue recycling bins — that it provided to residents years ago — but that uniform trash receptacles will “standardize the can system so that people aren’t gaming the system, and those who put out more will pay more.” Swank argued that without standardizing cans, residents may continue to use varying sizes (though rates are set for 32-gallon cans), yet pay the same.
Under the Rumpke contract, trash rates will be the same for every address, regardless of ownership. Fees are set per can, including the cost for the new, Rumpke-provided cans.
Stone said in an email Wednesday that the new cans will be mandated “for customers for trash.” City residents may continue to use their recycling receptacles and contact the city for Rumpke to provide a replacement, if needed.
“Residents may 1) choose to have Rumpke take away their old cans when the swap occurs, or 2) keep them for their own use for something else,” Stone said in an email. “Rumpke indicated that any receptacle they take away (trash or recycling) will be recycled, if even remotely possible.”
Screenshot from city’s website of 2024 rates.
2023 rates provided by the Athens Utilities Billing department. Screenshot.
At the Dec. 13 meeting, Swank predicted that the new cans will encourage residents to reduce their trash output.
“What this hopefully will do is two things,” Swank said. “The first part is you will now pay for what you put out — the more you put out, the more you pay. What I believe will happen, and I know this will happen at our house, is to get into that smaller can rate and therefore save money, we’re gonna generate less trash.”
Crowl disagreed with that prediction. “I don’t produce more trash in my house or with my family because I have a large trash can,” he said. “I am constantly trying to reduce the amount of waste that I have in my house. … It’s reducing long before we get to recycling.”
Swank told the Independent that city residents should expect two letters over the coming months regarding the cans. The cans will be Rumpke’s property, and can be replaced by the company if damaged, Stone confirmed in an email.
“After new carts are delivered, you may choose to place your old cans curbside for disposal,” Rumpke said in its FAQ.
Working together in the interim
When asked if he thought there was any risk of the city losing access to recycling and compost, Swank affirmed that Rumpke and AHRC will work together — at least initially — so compostables would be “going to the same place.”
Rumpke confirms that in its FAQ on the issue. However, Cummings said in an email on Tuesday that the two companies have not yet reached a formal agreement.
“[Rumpke has] reached out to AHRC to bring the compost here, and we have quoted them a tipping fee. They thanked us for the information but I have not gotten confirmation to find out if they are indeed going to bring the compost to this facility,” Cummings said in an email.
Athens County has two Class II composting facilities (“yard waste, agricultural plant materials, animal waste, dead animals, raw rendering material and food scraps”); one of those is AHRC’s. The county also has one Class III facility, which does not accept “raw rendering material and food scraps.”
None of Athens’ surrounding counties have Class II or III composting facilities, Ohio EPA Media Coordinator Anthony Chenault said in an email.
“We will continue collection for our commercial customers that are not part of the [Athens city] contract,” Cummings said via email.
Jeff Meyers, East Area communications manager at Rumpke, said in an email that Rumpke plans to provide compost to Athens’ approximately 1,087 customers.
Rumpke’s FAQ also states that the company is working with AHRC to dispose of trash at the Athens-Hocking Landfill — which Rumpke bought in 2021 — and to process both recycling and compost at AHRC.
