Rumpke yard waste pickup contract is a joke

photo by loan Sameli

The city of Columbus has brokered a deal with Rumpke for a subscription service to pick up yard waste. The program starts on April 20, 2009. The cost is $49.50, paid in advance, for the 6-month season from mid-April to mid-October.

This program is going to be a failure for the following reasons.

1. The cost of the program is too high
2. The service is limited to a few months
3. You can’t buy in, later in the season, you still have to pay full price

The city of Columbus previously offered yard waste pickup at no charge. Considering the 2% city income tax, it was hardly free of charge but it was still available. A cost of $8.25 per month is way too high for yard waste removal. Yard waste is not the same as trash. There will be weeks, where normal households will have no yard debris. I truly would like to know what my city is doing with my money. It certainly isn’t going to our police and firefighters.

Many communities have colored bags that cover the use of the service. You purchase as many bags as you need, end of story. This would be a much better solution if residents are going to be responsible for this cost. I am confident that many of my neighbors will pile debris in common land areas around my neighborhood. They already are doing this with their trash so, I have no reason to believe that they will behave any differently in this case.

Even when the service was free, Rumpke constantly refused to pick up our yard waste, because of the bundles being too long, or they just plain didn’t feel like coming on a given week. The service limits 15 bags or containers per week. My advice is to pool with your neighbors and buy one contract and everyone put the yard waste in their yard each week.

I am still expecting the city to tell me that they are going to stop picking up our trash as well. That will be a public service disaster. I can guarantee that people wont pay for the service. They will find apartment dumpsters, their neighbors yard, parks or some other place to dispose of their waste. My city is becoming a joke and Mayor Coleman is totally responsible for our current condition.

For those of you who would like other options for yard waste, the city has defined areas that yard waste can be dropped off free of charge. So if you are lucky enough to live close to one of these locations, you can just throw all your leaves in the back seat of your car and be on your way.

Here is my Google Map of the current drop off locations.