Trash fee: Where you can stick it
The concept was shot down last year and let's hope it stays that way. Because if scavengers will rip through trash bags looking for stuff to sell, they'll surely rip stickers off bags and sell them at discount to people unwilling to pay full-sticker price for the weekly haul-away of their household waste products.
In my neighborhood, trash pick-up day is Friday. We used to put our garbage at the curb on Thursday nights, but scavengers would rip our bags open in search of stuff to sell (used and dirty Saran wrap, anyone?).
Friday mornings, our sidewalk would be littered with our own trash, which we'd then have to rebag for the sanitation workers to haul away.
Needless to say, we don't put out the trash on Thursday nights any more. We wait until Friday morning, when scavengers no longer have the cover of night to hide the mess they once made with impunity.
I share this story because I fear the city, which is considering a household-trash fee, might try to generate the funds by selling us stickers, which we'd place on our trash bags. No stickers, no pick-up.
The concept was shot down last year and let's hope it stays that way. Because if scavengers will rip through trash bags looking for stuff to sell, they'll surely rip stickers off bags and sell them at discount to people unwilling to pay full-sticker price for the weekly haul-away of their household waste products.
While I'm vehemently against the notion of a household-trash fee, my Earth to Philly blogger and Daily News editorial-page editor Sandy Shea isn't so sure it's a bad thing. You can read the Daily News Editorial here.