In a Kalamazoo city poll more than 300 residents said they would prefer single-stream recycling. But at last night’s meeting, city staff recommended that the city keep its dual-stream system.
Wendy Burlingham is the City of Kalamazoo's Administrative Support Manager for Public Services. She says making the switch was too expensive and that the survey was not likely representative of Kalamazoo’s population.
City staff also recommended that the city move to bi-monthly bulk trash pickup instead of once a month. Burlingham says collecting bulk trash items less often saves the city money. It also makes residents think twice before throwing bulk items in the landfill.
“You’ve got people who are transporting bulk items from other areas in the city, other areas in the community. So I think it really is an abused program and if we can convert it to a different frequency and get away from that, that would solve a lot of problems,” says Burlingham.
The city still plans to increase the property tax that pays for trash and recycling to meet rising service costs.
