GREENSBURG, IN — Street Commissioner Mark Klosterkemper told the Greensburg Board of Works and City Council this week that it’s been a record-setting year for heavy trash pickup.
He said there were about $28,000 in tipping fee overages and it took one-third of the overtime budget to pick up more than 600,000 pounds of trash – almost 375,000 of that was picked up by hand by his street department workers.
“It’s an inordinate amount, and it’s actually 250 thousand pounds more than we had last year,” Mayor Joshua Marsh said. “We thought last year was bad – this year was even worse.”
Marsh says the city is going to take a serious review of the program.
“We’re looking at what other communities do, we’re looking at how to make it easier, better, quicker,” he said. “We’re spending a ton of time and resources, in addition to labor hours, but also just labor strain. I know our crews work very, very hard each week but that week, especially in a way that may be just isn’t quite what everyone signed up for.”
Klosterkemper submitted photos to both the Board of Works and City Council showing items he and his team dealt with, in the hopes that a better policy will be formulated.
Those items included loose trash, recyclable materials, construction and demolition debris, and even a discarded playset.
“Overall, a record-setting year, an expensive endeavor, a labor strain and drain, and we’re really looking to what changes can be made as it relates to Heavy Trash Week going forward, and I don’t know what is yet,” Marsh said.
The next Heavy Trash Week is scheduled for August, but the program may look different by then.
The issue is expected to be a topic of discussion at next month’s Board of Works and City Council meetings.
