Join the Round Table!

At the July 15 Study Session, City Council directed staff to prepare language for consideration for inclusion on the ballot in this November’s municipal election. The intent of the ballot question would be to ask the community whether or not the city should contract with companies to provide more efficient residential waste collection in Lakewood. This direction was given after staff presented options that Lakewood could take for improving the current residential waste system. 

You can watch the presentation and discussion from the July 15 meeting by clicking on item 5 on the agenda next to the video.

During the Feb. 4 study session, Council directed staff to gather Lakewood-specific details on three residential waste collection improvement options—Enhanced Licensing, Contracted System, and Preferred Hauler System. The 2019 Analysis of Residential Waste Collection Improvement Options report analyzes the three policy options to better understand the potential benefits and impacts of each on:

• Household costs
• Household services
• Customer service and hauler accountability
• Neighborhood impacts: noise, safety, and neighborhood aesthetics
• Environmental impacts: waste diversion, air quality, and GHG emissions
• Household choice among haulers
• Business and market competition
• City administrative and operating costs

The following tables and charts summarize these findings.

Summary of benefits and drawbacks of Enhanced Licensing:

Enhanced Licensing maintains the current open subscription system while adding new residential waste hauler licensing requirements intended to reduce neighborhood impacts, increase waste diversion, increase customer service and increase hauler accountability.

Summary of benefits and drawbacks of a Contracted System:

In a Contracted System, the City contracts with one or multiple haulers for residential trash collection for all residential properties with seven or fewer units. contract(s) would include provisions intended to reduce neighborhood impacts, increase waste diversion, increase customer service and increase hauler accountability.

Summary of benefits and drawbacks of a Preferred Hauler System

In a Preferred Hauler System, the City contracts with one hauler to be the City’s preferred provider for residential trash collection. Residents could voluntarily choose the City’s preferred provider to receive the agreed upon pricing and services. The contract would include provisions intended to increase waste diversion, increase customer service and increase hauler accountability for participating residents. In order to achieve communitywide environmental benefits and for the preferred hauler to remain cost competitive, the Preferred Hauler System would need to be paired with Enhanced Licensing.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION

Staff finds that the most effective option for achieving the widest range of community goals is the Contracted System with multiple districts and new licensing requirements for all haulers in the City in order to set a fair citywide standard for services. Efficiency gains realized through this option enable the community to access new services, significantly reduce neighborhood impacts, and provide an economic incentive to reduce household waste and overall costs. Through the Contracted System, Lakewood can realize the benefits associated with organized collection and with market competition.

Download the full report to learn more.

In June, City staff launched the Lakewood Round Table to understand residents’ concerns and collect suggestions on how the current residential trash collection system could be improved. This information was combined with research and summarized in the 2019 Lakewood Residential Trash Collection Report.

The report includes:

• Introduction (p.1): What is the objective and scope of this report?
• Community Goals (p.4): Why is this topic important to Lakewood?
• Research (p.6): What sources of information were used in this report?
• Community Engagement (p.9): How was the community involved and what did folks say?
• Issues (p.14): What are the issues with Lakewood's residential trash collection system?
  
• Goals (p.51): What does an ideal residential trash collection system look like for Lakewood?
• Options (p.52): What types of requirements could Lakewood implement to improve its system?
• Recommendation (p.70): Based on this information, what are the recommended next steps?

Download the report to learn more and share your feedback in the comments section below. Related report documents are posted on the right hand side of this webpage.

Next Steps

You've shared your concerns and ideas with us in-person, online, and in-print. From these comments, several key themes that we've summarized to describe Lakewood's ideal collection system, along with challenges that come with any potential change.