GREAT WESTERN RECLAMATION, INC.1970

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City Manager 3 September 2, 1970 CHANGE 2 - Reduce container and single item maximum weight limits from 60 to 50 pounds. This will help reduce the number of back injuries to employees of the contractor; trash collectors have the highest occupational injury rate of all industries. Many single items have no handles or hand-holes, and are difficult to pick up. Most large containers sold for household use will not exceed 50 pounds when fully loaded unless the material is packed down with a considerable degree of effort on the part of the user. CHANGE 3 - Add Memorial Day to the list of holidays. Section 2(1) of the contract lists the holidays to be observed by the contractor and provides that when a normal collection day falls on a holiday, the refuse will be picked up on the day following. We recommend that Memorial Day be added to the list since it is a holiday under the contractor's agreement with the union which would normally require him to pay over-time rates. We have previously at the Department level given authorization to the contractor for collection of trash on the day following Memorial Day. The agreement should be amended in order to give legal sanction to this change. During weeks in which holidays occur, all trash collections from the holiday to the end of the week are picked up one day behind the regular schedule. There has been no particular difficulty with this practice. CHANGE 4 - Prohibit the use of regular paper bags or other materials as containers which become unusable when wet or which are easily scattered by wind or animals, and provide for the collection of cardboard boxes used as containers. Municipal Code Section 16-33(d) (1) provides that refuse container suitable for collection purposes, etc. , shall be provided for by the owner or occupant of premises, and that they must be maintained in good and sanitary condition. We feel that this provides latitude for the citizen to provide a container of his choice and as long as it performs its function adequately, there is no problem. We do, however, recommend that the use of paper bags or other materials which become unusable when wet, or which are easily scattered by wind or animals, be restricted. We do not oppose the use of cardboard boxes for initial set-out, but feel that they should not be set back to the curb for re-use. We want to encourage the use of properly designed paper or trash bags for the same reason that we want to discourage ordinary paper bags or cardboard cartons. It helps keep the City clean, speeds up collection, reduces injuries, and reduces noise. We do not believe that this will require any changes in our present rules and regulations but wish to bring to the attention of the City Council this particular change in enforcement which is being contemplated. The City Attorney's office has prepared three documents which will provide for all of the proposed changes contained in this report. These are Ordinance NS-1038, Resolution 70-81, and an agreement to amend the existing contract with Great Western Reclamation, Inc. The documents provide that the effective date for these changes would be November 1, 1970-- which is the end of the original seven-year contract period which was entered into 1963.