Trash talk grows into an uproar

When Bill and Mary Simms got a bill for $1,800 to fix the street outside their home, they knew whom to blame -- all those garbage trucks.

Each week, at least five trucks rumble past to collect trash in their Fridley neighborhood. They show up as early as 6:40 a.m., waking the retirees.

Bill Simms, 67, doesn't understand why his community needs so many haulers when people in next-door Columbia Heights get by with just one. And he's furious he has to pay to fix streets worn down by all that tonnage. "I'm fed up," Simms said.

It's a common complaint in the Twin Cities, where most communities leave it to residents to hire their own trash collectors. In St. Paul, which is served by 17 haulers, officials could vote on changes this month.

Many homeowners prefer to pick their own haulers, believing that they're getting the best rate. But they're wrong, a study commissioned by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) concluded.

For a 30- or 60-gallon container, those homeowners typically pay at least 50 percent more for garbage service than residents in communities like Minneapolis with organized systems, the study found.

There are other costs, too. City engineers worry about the price of fixing roads damaged by garbage and recycling trucks. Residents complain about the racket, the danger to children, and the emissions.

But anytime officials talk about change, they confront angry constituents. Not one community has retaken control of trash collection in nearly 20 years, according to the MPCA study.

Mark Campbell, mayor of Sauk Rapids, was stunned when local officials debated how to reduce the number of garbage trucks on city streets last spring. He said it was the "ugliest meeting I've ever participated in."

"People were screaming,'' recalled Campbell, who later apologized for opposing the move, which he thinks made sense. "It was so emotional! I'm sitting there thinking, 'My God, all we're talking about is, 'Will it be a blue can or a green can?!'"

Waste haulers believe their critics are misinformed. They say the most valuable service isn't always the least expensive, and that competition fosters innovation and more environmentally sound practices.

"We custom-tailor our services,'' said Mark Stoltman, who runs Randy's Sanitation, one of the largest independent haulers in Minnesota. "And a customer who isn't happy can talk directly to me -- or can quit and go to someone else.''

Too many trucks

In the Twin Cities, residents in 77 of 108 metro communities hire their own trash collectors, according to a 2005 survey by the city of Eden Prairie. That stands in stark contrast to the rest of the country, where roughly 70 percent of cities and counties do the job themselves or hire an outside contractor, according to the survey.

Like many metro communities, St. Paul does little to help residents with the issue. While some communities offer a handful of options and don't allow haulers to visit the same neighborhood more than once a week, haulers in St. Paul can set their own schedules.

What's more, St. Paul doesn't require haulers to publish their rates on the city's website or anywhere else, so residents can't easily comparison-shop. In fact, the city doesn't even provide a list. Instead, it instructs residents to "ask your neighbors about which garbage and refuse collection service they use."

"No one has the time to research all the different companies," said Shannon Forney, who moved to St. Paul last month. "Having that much choice is actually a burden."

All those trucks are taking a heavy toll on the region's roads, experts say. A 2002 Roseville report estimated the city could add five to 10 years of life to pavement if garbage truck traffic were limited, a savings of $20 to $40 per year for homeowners. Oakdale has estimated that going from five haulers to one would save up to $300,000 in street maintenance.

Obviously, removing some of those trucks would "extend the life of the street,'' said Terry Wotzka, city engineer for Sauk Rapids.

Haulers agree that their trucks have an impact, but they point to studies showing that environmental factors such as freezing and thawing cause greater street damage.

Then there's the noise. With 10 haulers in Maple Grove, Abigail Keckhafer thinks she "could get a more peaceful lifestyle in the middle of New York City." Another Maple Grove resident kept a log, noting 11 separate truck visits in a single day, with most haulers arriving between 7 and 9 a.m.

While many communities have rules that prevent haulers from showing up before 6 a.m., some residents -- especially those working late shifts -- say that's way too early.

"They should be required to wait until 8,'' said Becky Nilius of Newport, which has six licensed haulers. "Not everyone works Monday through Friday, and I feel bad for anyone who had Mondays off -- it's definitely not possible to sleep in with all that racket on the street."

Sue Stewart, owner of Highland Sanitation, said an 8 a.m. start would make it tough for haulers to complete their work in a single day, as some communities require. Truck noise is amplified in spring and fall, "when people have their windows open," she added.

Not easy to find a bargain

The trade-off for all this truck traffic is competition, which typically reduces prices. But shoppers must work hard to find a bargain. In St. Paul, a resident could pay the same hauler $18 to $48 a month for servicing a 60-gallon container, according to the MPCA study.

By contrast, Minneapolis residents pay a flat monthly rate of $21. The service covers trash, recycling and includes things that cost extra in other communities, such as picking up broken appliances, old tires and construction debris.

The MPCA study doesn't address what causes such dramatic price swings in St. Paul, but residents cite heavy discounting for new customers and competitive pricing in some heavily trafficked neighborhoods. Residents say it's also possible to negotiate with haulers.

"It depends on who in the marketplace is going door to door recruiting new customers and undercutting competitors,'' said Doug Carnival, a Minnesota lobbyist for the waste hauling industry. "The next day it might be different."

Altogether, the MPCA report found, St. Paul residents pay millions more than people in cities with organized garbage systems.

The free market has another hidden cost: illegal dumping. Some residents try to get around the rules by dumping their trash in someone else's yard.

Mary Scott, 71, has seen everything from stereo components to tires in her Frogtown yard, and the dumping just gets worse, she said. She's had to pay her hauler extra to take away the big stuff.

"I can't afford to pay for somebody else's trash anymore," she said.

In 2008, St. Paul recorded 24,027 trash violations on public and private property. So far this year, the city has spent $200,000 picking up trash in public areas.

Tait Danielson Castillo, executive director of the District 7 Planning Council, says the open-choice system encourages illegal dumping.

"Trash is the issue in Frogtown," he said. "Nobody calls me about drug dealers on the corners anymore."

An activist industry

St. Paul City Council members are well aware of the contentiousness of the issue and are moving slowly. But the industry isn't.

One St. Paul hauler already has distributed a flier urging customers to call council members and protest any proposed changes. In Sauk Rapids, Wotzka said haulers inundated City Hall with a foot-high stack of postcards when officials considered modifying garbage service last spring.

The industry is "incredibly organized when they get wind of this," Wotzka said.

Bob Kessler, St. Paul's director of Safety and Inspections, said there needs to be a public debate over what can be done to improve the system. He predicted it won't be pretty.

"It's a volatile and ugly issue,'' he said.

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