Haven't We 'Bin' Through This All Before?

I'll use any excuse to re-produce an Alan MacBain classic.

Six months after Pottstown Borough Council disbanded the trash committee and handed its responsibilities over to the Environmental Advisory Council, that body has presented council with some recommendations to deal with complaints about the size of the "big red bins."

Jim Derr, chairman of the EAC presented the recommendation to council, despite the fact that he failed to attach the actual proposal to the e-mail he sent to council prior to Monday's meeting.

Nonetheless, he explained that one of the primary recommendations is for the borough to offer trash bins less than half the size of the 96-gallon red bins that were issued at the beginning of the year.

Numerous complaints about the bins' size and unwieldiness have been filed, often by senior citizens.

However, under the EAC recommendations only those who put their request in writing and provide a note from a doctor saying the property owner is incapable of handling the larger bin can get a smaller one.

"We tried to make it at least as simple as getting a handicapped parking place in town," Derr said.

Mercury Photo by John Strickler

The 96-gallon red trash bins now used in Pottstown are only slightly
less unwieldy for homeowners than they were
for the workers assembling them this winter, some say.

"This is not an option for convenience, but for someone who has an impairment," he said. "Because if we get a whole bunch of people who want the smaller bin, that's going to be a challenge."

The smaller bins would be 45 gallons.

On the subject of the red bins, Public Works Director Doug Yerger told council that the bins are "making their way around" and not just because they have wheels on them.

Most recently, he said, one had been found in West Pottsgrove where a person who owned property in the borough decided to take home for their own use.

"We call the police and get it returned," Yerger said.

He also said that there have been some disagreements with the borough's trash hauler, Mascaro, which owns the bins.

"We had one which got set on fire and I got a bill from Mascaro for $70," Yerger told council. "I told them I'm not paying that. The contract says they have 48 hours to replace a bin that's damaged, it doesn't say how its damaged."

Yerger said disputes about other aspects of the contract are likely to require a sit-down meeting with Mascaro "and I think we're going to need to have the solicitor there to iron some things out."

In the meantime, council indicated it would take the EAC's recommendations under advisement while it considers the changes.