We have discussed the St. Louis County trash collection proposal numerous times on this blog, and I have officially run out of clever ways to introduce "trash" in the post’s title. Nonetheless, St. Louis County has apparently decided to delay the introduction of the controversial trash collection plan by several months, except in one trash district. Here is the article in the Post-Dispatch. Officials have chosen to implement the plan in the smallest district (kind of northwest county) with the least amount of opposition, and this will give them time to see how the plan works, and make changes if necessary.
While others at SMI have been strongly opposed to the plan, I have wavered back and forth on it. There are no doubt good arguments on both sides. The primary argument in favor of the proposed trash districts is that there will almost certainly be reduced wear and tear if only one trash truck drives up and down the streets each week, rather than several. We all pay for the neighborhood streets in unincorporated areas, whether or not we live in a municipality, and I want my tax dollars used wisely. On the other hand, I have a strong aversion to the government forcing people to do something one way when it has been working just fine to have people arranging their own trash collection. The new law’s opt-out provisions did a good job of addressing that concern, though, in my opinion.
Anyway, I think the starter district idea is a good one. Perhaps if the new plan works well, everyone’s concerns will be alleviated. And if it doesn’t, officials can scrap the whole thing before it goes countywide. The most likely answer is that it will work well — but that won’t matter to the opponents, because their objections are bigger than that, to their credit. Will South Pointe (sorry, unable to find a link to this, because it predated widespread use of the Internet by a few years) rise again because of trash districts, trash transfer stations, and more? We will have to wait and see on that …
