Question about trash/recycling service in Decatur (Atlanta: mortgage, appliances)

[danstew01]

I am moving to the city of Decatur in two weeks and am trying to set up my trash and recycling service. I noticed on the city's website that they offer this service but it's works as a "pay as you throw" system which is billed annually based on the number of bags you purchase. Also, it sounds as though they do not provide receptacles. I called to get more info, but the person I spoke with was less than helpful.

My question is, do any of you folks in Decatur use this service and, if so, how do you like it. It sounds like it would be a pain, but I thought I'd check before I decided to go with a private company. Thanks for any info you can provide!

[floyd242]

You get receptacles for recycling, but not garbage. You have to buy special bags (they have them at the local grocery stores/ace hardware/etc) at a premium and put your garbage in them. That way you pay more if you use more garbage etc. You can put them in a trash can at the curb if you want, the city just doesn't provide one. The recycling program is pretty good though, they take almost anything. The annual fee is calculated in with your tax bill and is the same for everyone (I assume) it pays for yard waste and recycling and everything else.

I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but it's not bad. I definitely got me to recycle more. We have 2 people in our house and we use about 1 medium trash bag/week. You get 10 medium bags for like $7.

You don't have to set anything up, just find out what day your trash day is from your neighbors and set it out. The recycling bins should already be there unless the previous owners took them for some reason, in which case just let them know and they will bring you some. You can get a huge rolling recycling bin if you want to pay like $70 extra for it. Also you can just put your recycling in a cardboard box and they will take it... we do that sometimes when we have extra.

[danstew01]

Thanks for the response. So what do you do about yard waste like grass clippings, limbs, etc? Do they pick that up as well, and does it have to be in one of the special bags?

One other question as well - is there any additional cost for the pickup service, or do you just pay for the bags?

[floyd242]

Yard waste is taken if you put it in the regular yard waste bags you get from home depot or costco. If you have large limbs etc just make sure they are cut down into 3-4' pieces and put them in a nice pile and they will take them (I think you're supposed to bundle them with twine or something but I just piled them up).

Everything that is not included with the bag price is included in the annual fee which (for me at least) is paid when I pay my taxes through my mortgage escrow account.


Here's the breakdown from the decatur website

City of Decatur : Pay-As-You_Throw

Under the Pay-As-You-Throw system:

• Residents pay an annual fee for collection of garbage and trash and collection and disposal of yard trimmings, furniture, most appliances and recyclables, and for street sweeping
• Residents purchase special plastic bags from local supermarkets, hardware stores and other local suppliers to use for disposing of garbage. The cost of disposal is included in the cost of the bag. Bags are available in 8, 15 and 30-gallon sizes
  • Click here for a list of local merchants who stock PAYT bags
• Garbage and trash will only be collected if in the special bags. Special bags are collected from the rear or side yard
• Yard trimmings, recyclables, furniture and appliances will continue to be collected from the curb. Reminder: A $50 collection and disposal fee is charged to remove appliances using Freon

[oakhurstlauren]

Yup. We lovingly refer to it as "forced recycling."

[rcsteiner]

What an interesting concept.

Living in unincorporated Cobb, we have a choice of providers (or "have to choose one", I guess) and pay a fixed fee every quarter for garbage and recycling ... I think we pay $52.50 per quarter at the moment, but that gives us a large plastic wheeled can we can fill and a smaller wheeled can for recyclables. Pickup is once a week for most companies.

How much is the annual fee in Decatur? The fees for the bags sound more than reasonable.

[danstew01]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

What an interesting concept.

Living in unincorporated Cobb, we have a choice of providers (or "have to choose one", I guess) and pay a fixed fee every quarter for garbage and recycling ... I think we pay $52.50 per quarter at the moment, but that gives us a large plastic wheeled can we can fill and a smaller wheeled can for recyclables. Pickup is once a week for most companies.

How much is the annual fee in Decatur? The fees for the bags sound more than reasonable.

I'm actually moving from East Cobb, so I have beeing using one of the providers like you mention. I agree the Pay As You Throw concept is interesting and I think we'll give it a try once we move next week to see how we like it. $52.50 seems high. We were paying $35/quarter with American Disposal. I think our neighborhood negotiated that rate, so you might not be able to sign on for that price, but I bet they can beat the price you are paying now. Might be worth a call.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by danstew01

I'm actually moving from East Cobb, so I have beeing using one of the providers like you mention. I agree the Pay As You Throw concept is interesting and I think we'll give it a try once we move next week to see how we like it. $52.50 seems high. We were paying $35/quarter with American Disposal. I think our neighborhood negotiated that rate, so you might not be able to sign on for that price, but I bet they can beat the price you are paying now. Might be worth a call.

Actaully, it's low for the area compared to the three other companies we called.

[JPD]

If you want to recycle and don't want to pay a dime (other than gas, wear/tear on your car), you can always haul your recyclables over to Dekalb Farmer's Market. It's less convenient than curbside, and more time consuming, but the service is free and it's only about a mile from the Decatur city limits.

Your Dekalb Farmers Market - A World Market - Atlanta's Best Source Of Affordable Organic Food

[oakhurstlauren]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

What an interesting concept.

Living in unincorporated Cobb, we have a choice of providers (or "have to choose one", I guess) and pay a fixed fee every quarter for garbage and recycling ... I think we pay $52.50 per quarter at the moment, but that gives us a large plastic wheeled can we can fill and a smaller wheeled can for recyclables. Pickup is once a week for most companies.

How much is the annual fee in Decatur? The fees for the bags sound more than reasonable.

From Decatur City website:
Sanitation service fees are billed annually and are payable for the full year in the first installment billing. Residential sanitation is $228 per year which includes the collection of garbage and trash; collection and disposal of recyclables, yard trimmings, furniture and appliances that do not contain Freon; and street cleaning.

The COD trash bags are about $7 for 10 medium sized ones as other posters said. With all the recycling we do, for a family of 3, we ever only have one bag a week, which comes out to about $36 a year. All in then, we pay around $264 for all the above services and recycling, plus we get to feel GREAT! about ourselves