Hopewell trash collection goes to Tuesdays only

By: centraljersey.com
Beginning on Feb. 1, trash collection services in Hopewell Borough will be provided on Tuesdays only.
This is a change from the current Tuesday and Friday schedule.
There is no change in the maximum allowable collection volume per pickup day. Each household may place up to four containers at curbside for the Tuesday collection day. No container may be larger than 30 gallons in capacity or weigh more than 50 pounds.
Household waste shall not consist of recyclable materials, hazardous waste, bulk items (or solid animal and vegetable waste collected by swine producers licensed by the State Department of Agriculture to collect, prepare and feed such waste to swine on their own farms).
Residences and most small business/professional offices are serviced by the municipal contract. Restaurants are excluded from the municipal contract.
Curbside recycling collection is provided under a separate contract and is unchanged by the new municipal solid waste contract.
One bulk pickup day will be offered in mid-June 2011 at a date to be announced. A private contract is required for bulk pickup service at all other times.
Questions regarding this contract should be directed to Michele Hovan, borough administrator, at 466-2636 or [email protected].
THE CONTRACT with Waste Management, OK’d Monday, is for three years, with an annual bulk pickup each year, for a total price of $186,180, plus $9,900 for bulk pickup. The contract will begin on Feb. 1, Ms. Hovan said.
"For cost-savings purposes, the borough is going to a once-a-week pickup schedule, down from twice-a-week. The cost for three years, two pickups each week (plus bulk pickup) would have been a total of $257,400, or $61,320 more just to have the second pickup day," said Ms. Hovan.
The new contract, said Ms. Hovan, "is an even greater savings when compared to the last contact, which for three years, two times a week, plus bulk pickup, totaled $300,348 ($104,268 difference).
"By transition to a once-a-week collection, the borough is able to not only reduce the annual expense, but still realize enough of a savings to retain the popular bulk pickup feature. Before the bids were opened (Monday), borough officials were braced to eliminate the bulk pickup service due to an anticipated higher cost. For now, or for the next three years, borough residents will be able to take advantage of the annual bulk service," Ms. Hovan noted.
– Ruth Luse