ASHTABULA – Those anxious to see recycling expanded to the rest of the City of Ashtabula should mark their calendars for sometime in October.
That’s when it’s expected that the service will be rolled out.
Back on July 6th, city council voted to purchase recycling and rubbish containers to bring the curbside recycling program to the remainder of the city. The program only has been in place for Wards 1 and 2 and a part of Ward 3 in the city. The city has five Wards.
Council passed an ordinance at that time authorizing the city manager to purchase recycling and rubbish containers from Wastequip, LLC of Charlotte, N.C., in an amount not to exceed $296,030 to complete the city’s curbside recycling program.
At the Aug. 17th pre-council meeting, council member Jane DiGiacomo asked when the recycling expansion will begin.
“When would you guesstimate that this will all be rolled out?” she asked City Manager Jim Timonere.
Timonere initially answered that the roll-out would probably be mid- to late-October. A few moments later in the conversation, he leaned toward later in the month.
“I’m hopeful sometime in late October,” he said.
Timonere said he would like to order the containers right after the first September council meeting, adding that production takes about four to six weeks.
Prior to the discussion, Timonere provided an update on the status of the toters, which is the brand name for the cans he has been looking at for the recycling expansion.
“After our meeting, I was approached by several other vendors to say, ‘Hey, would you mind receiving a quote from us about containers,” he said. “I did receive a few other quotes, and I did ask them to send us the cans so we that can evaluate them side-by-side with what we currently have. And then in going through all of the bills that we send out in the active accounts that are received from the finance department and then matching that up with the county auditor’s website of how many actual structures are in the area, we’re still trying to narrow down how many actual cans we have to buy.”
Timonere said it looks like the city might be closer to 3,000 that it needs, noting the estimate that he got was for 2,800.
He said he may have to come back to council for a change order.
“And then, we’ll be able to order those right after the next meeting,” he said.
