Single-Hauler Ordinance Creates Debate Over Choice and Cost

PORTAGE, Mich. — Portage residents are heading to the polls on May 5 to decide their future trash service. The ballot initiative would give residents a choice between keeping Waste Management as the city's single trash hauler or selecting their own provider.

The measure comes just two months after the City of Portage and Waste Management signed a five-year contract. The agreement makes Waste Management the exclusive trash hauler for all residents.

The single-hauler arrangement has cut out Best Way Disposal, a Kalamazoo-based trash service that previously competed in the city. The petition to put the issue on the ballot, called Take Back the Trash, currently has about 680 signatures. Petition organizers need 4,000 signatures to appear on the May ballot.

By having a one hauler that the city has contracted with, that gives us a little more teeth in what the communication is between that hauler, what they're doing," Portage's Director of Public Works Jereme Rowland said. "If there are issues, we have a direct contact with them that we can try to address any issues. Before, it was everybody for themselves."

The city says the contract saves residents money. Waste Management proposed a trash pickup rate of $14.04 per month, which would cost Portage residents a total of $29,431,000 over the five-year contract.