New totes from Hawkeye Sanitation

HOWARD COUNTY - Julian Merritt and Lucas Merritt of Hawkeye Sanitation addressed Lime Springs City Council about having different totes for garbage and recycling.

The cost for the service will go up 10-15% the first year and then 3-4% annually. That adds up to, at max, an extra $2.50 for single garbage and $2.65 for family garbage as well as about 75¢ per household for recycling.

The company plans to use the totes instead of traditional garbage cans or bags. The trucks will be able to lift the totes and dump them without using manpower. Fewer employees would be needed with the new system.

The brothers explained it is getting harder and harder to find people who will show up to work. In addition, they said the cost of recycling and garbage has been going up at the landfill, which Hawkeye Sanitation has no control over.

There will be two totes — one for garbage (green) and one for recycling (blue). Each tote is a 64-gallon container. Extra bags will be available to purchase at convenience stores and city halls in the county. Julian said the bags are sold in packs of five for $25. “So they are about $5.00 each.”

Each tote has stickers on the top to let the customer know what can and cannot be put in each one. Merritts said one nice thing about the recycling is the items do not need to be sorted.

Customers will have the option of purchasing extra totes if they consistently have excess garbage or recycling for an extra monthly fee.

Lucas said, “It is hard to know when we would start using them in Lime Springs. We previously ordered 50 totes, and it took 6-7 months to receive them. Then we ordered 2,000, and they came in two months.” The plan is to get the totes started in Cresco in the next few weeks.

“We would still help out the elderly and disabled,” Julian said. The workers currently have a few customers where they collect the garbage cans from the garage for those unable to do it themselves.

Lime Springs City Council will be voting on the totes in the near future.