Published: September 04, 2008 08:51 pm         

Businesses’ luck gets dumped in trash

Mistake had some businesses receiving free trash service

TERRE HAUTE — Some local businesses that used to enjoy free trash removal are now having to pay for the service.

For 25 years, Earl McClelland got the trash picked up at his Allstate Insurance office at 13 1/2 Street and Margaret Avenue in Terre Haute at no charge.

Now, if he wants trash pickup at his business, he will have to pay a monthly fee.

Businesses are not covered by the city’s contract with Republic Services; in fact, businesses are almost never covered by municipal trash contracts, according to Ken Depasse, a governmental affairs official for Republic Services, the city’s trash removal company. Indeed, Terre Haute municipal trash removal contracts have been limited to residential customers for at least 40 years, he said.

“He should consider himself lucky,” Depasse said of any business owner who has had free trash removal.

McClelland is not upset about the change, but wonders why there was no explanation or notice given to small-business owners who previously got free trash pickup.

About two weeks ago, Republic simply stopped picking up his business’s trash, he said.

Jim Moles operates a business, Old Friends Outdoor Power Repair, very near McClelland’s insurance office and received free trash removal for years. But when the city switched to the large blue totes for trash disposal, Moles said he knew his free ride was over.

Business trash removal rates vary based on volume and frequency of pickup, Depasse said. Moles said he has no complaints about having to pay the $26.66 monthly fee for the small amount of trash his business generates; indeed, Moles said he believes the new blue totes have cut down dramatically on blowing trash in his neighborhood.

“There’s just no comparison,” Moles said.

Bill Lower, president of the Terre Haute Board of Public Works and Safety, said he has heard other business owners wonder why they were being asked to pay for trash removal. But the city’s current contract with Republic Services, and the previous city trash removal contract, always has been limited to just residential customers, he said.

The closest thing to a business covered by the city’s trash removal contract is a provision in the agreement that permits trash pickup at apartment buildings with four units or less, Lower noted.

Like Moles, McClelland is not angry about having his decades of free business trash removal come to an end, but he has no plans to start paying now. His business only generates a tiny amount of trash, so he’ll just take it home and add it to his residential trash, he said.

“They’re still going to pick it up for free,” he said.

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.