Tucson City Council tentatively approved a budget May 13 funding the change from every-other-week to weekly collection of recyclables and garbage beginning in July. Eliseo Garza, solid waste director, says the change will save the city $2 million a year.
Most of the savings will come from eliminating Waste Management’s current $1.7 million contract to collect recyclable materials every other week, Garza says. Additionally, the weekly collection will save the department money by configuring routes more efficiently, allowing 17 of the oldest trucks to be eliminated, he says.
Garza has encouraged the city to convert to weekly collections since 1995. A changeover plan was withdrawn last year because it was to be funded by a garbage collection fee that council rejected. City Manager James Keen says he has no immediate plan to reintroduce the fee proposal, especially during the economic downturn.
Garza says the garbage collection changeover will start July 1 with 7,800 homes in the area of East Speedway and North Houghton Road and will expand by 7,800 homes weekly until the entire city is included by late November or early December.
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