# South County Threatens Secession Over Trash?

- Link: https://www.timprobst.com/2007/08/16/south-county-threatens-secession-over-trash/
- Published: 2007-08-16T08:30:55-05:00
- Author: Tim Probst

I read in the [Oakville Call](http://callnewspapers.com/1editorialbody.lasso?-token.folder=2007-08-15&-token.story=199847.112112&-token.subpub=)
last night that some residents of south Saint Louis County are so upset about a 
proposal to establish trash districts that they are considering breaking away from
the county and forming a new county. The big fuss is that individuals will no longer
have the ability to contract with any waste hauler they want. I’m not sure about
you, but forming a new county over something like this seems a bit extreme to me.

I have never lived in an area where I was responsible for picking my own trash company
which is why I don’t really see this as a big deal. Establishing trash districts
in the unincorporated areas of Saint Louis County actually sounds like a great idea
to me. The trash companies will have to adhere to standards of service and will 
have to bid for the business. The companies will compete with each other to get 
the business which will drive down prices. In the process, some mom and pop waste
haulers may lose residential business because they cannot meet the demands of an
entire district, but that does not mean they will go out of business. They will 
have to adjust and focus on other business that they can compete for and win. I 
know that in the Aurora, Illinois area where I grew up, there are a ton of successful
small waste haulers even though the city contracts with a large firm to collect 
the residential waste from its 170,000 plus residents. There is no reason the same
thing can’t happen here.

If the proposal does go through, I would like the County to institute some requirements
for recycling, and those requirements are that the waste hauler will provide recycling
bins for each house and that they will pick it up for free. The money they make 
from recycling will help offset the cost of collecting the materials, and it is 
the right thing to do for the environment. All the cities in which I have lived 
in Illinois and California have always had recycling programs, and Saint Louis County
needs to do its fair share. Perhaps the County can also require that the waste haulers
must provide standard trash and recycling bins for every house in each district.
That way, they can use automated trucks to collect the waste. This works incredibly
well in San Diego, and it made trash day so much easier.

My vote is for the trash districts to be established so we can all benefit from 
standards and economies of scale.