Schools to mull hauling own waste

Board concerned about cost hikes

Del Norte County Unified School District has started looking into ways to reduce its garbage  pickup costs.

The school district’s monthly disposal costs jumped about $8,000 after a rate increase from Recology Del Norte last July.

School Board member Jim Maready brought this up at last Thursday’s board meeting.

“I think it’s time we have a discussion and check into what is going on with the increase of payments,” he said.

Maready suggested the district look into the feasibility of hauling its own garbage. The district could pick up its own trash and take it to the transfer station, he said.

With the rate increase, the district’s estimated garbage costs for this fiscal year would be about $240,000. If the district reduces the size of its trash bins and recycles more at schools, the cost could be reduced to $215,000.

Either way, the district is paying tens of thousands of dollars more than in 2010–2011 when it paid about $148,000

“We need to look into this,” Maready said. “This is ridiculous.”

The school district paid about $13,000 last June for garbage pickup at each of its schools and the district offices, and then about $21,000 in September after the rate increase.

Teacher Amber Cron, president of the Del Norte Teachers Association, said there has been a lot of talk around town about self-hauling garbage.

“We’ve received a lot of email about it,” Cron said about suggestions for the district to save money.

She said it might have to do with the large amount of money  — about $134,000 in a few months — the district has saved from implementing the Energy Education program to reduce utility usage and now people are thinking about new ways to save money.

Some schools have increased recycling efforts to cut down on waste, Cron said, and if that’s implemented at each school, it should help with costs.

But, garbage “seems to be the community’s next focus to save money,” she said.

This topic may be on the board’s Feb. 9 meeting agenda.

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