Oswego residents will be able to recycle electronics including old television sets and compost waste under terms of a new village garbage contract.
Village trustees Tuesday night approved a five-year extension with its waste hauling provider, Groot Industries, effective May 1.
Village administrator Dan Di Santo said the village renegotiated terms of the contract before a 5 percent rate increase that was to go into effect.
He said staff began discussing a contract extension with Groot based on monthly rates in the marketplace, an increased level of service and avoidance of the 5 percent increase.
The village’s agreement with Groot was to run until April 2017.
Rather than increasing the village’s current monthly rate from $19.97 to $20.97 per the contract, the village’s monthly rate under the new terms will decrease by 3.9 percent to $19.20 per month.
“One part of the contract that bothered me was that we had 5 percent price escalators every year,” Di Santo had said.
The village’s monthly garbage rate will then increase within the range of a minimum 2 percent to a maximum 4 percent annually, based on the Consumer Price Index, he said.
He said a key factor in the negotiation was to address the difficulties residents have with recycling televisions, which are not accepted by the current electronics recycler or other local recycling companies.
“This is something we get calls on every single day. The answer had been for a while that we didn’t know what residents could do with their televisions. Not many (recycling companies) collect TVs without a fee,” he said.
He said residents can place their old televisions, including ones with tubes, and other electronics at the curb for pickup with 24-hour notice at no additional charge.
He said the village’s Environmentally Conscious Commission was interested in giving Oswego residents the ability to recycle organic waste or compost.
The contract includes an organics collection “opt-in” program that will provide residents enrolled in the program a 95-gallon yard waste/food scrap cart for $15 per month during the landscape waste season.
The contract does include graduated increases over five years in the village’s yard waste sticker price from $1 to $2.50 in 2021. Di Santo said other communities in the area charge between $2 and $3.83 per sticker.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
