For more information on the new garbage and recycling contract, contact Linda Knight, the City of Renton solid-waste coordinator at 425-430-7397 or at lknight@ci.renton.wa.us or visit rentonwa.gov.

The way Renton residents manage their garbage and recyclables will change on Jan. 1, when a new contract for garbage collection takes effect.

The City Council approved the new contract with its garbage hauler, Waste Management, in a unanimous voice vote Monday night.

Garbage rates will go up, the first increase since 2000, when the current contract went into effect. For the most common residential customer, one who receives what's called one-can service, the monthly bill will go from $13.44 to $18.41. The mini-can service will go from $6.40 a month to $11.20 a month.

In return, residents get a whole new opportunity to recycle – their food waste. And done away with are the three bins they used to sort their own recyclables. All those will go into one big cart on wheels.

The rate increase also reflects inflation, including the cost of diesel fuel, which has more than doubled during the life of the current contract.

But the contract also brings a change in lifestyle and the way Renton residents define garbage.

Simply, if your "garbage" was once alive, it can live again – as compost. This is what's known as organic material, such as dairy products, meat scraps, bones and any type of fruits and vegetables.

"Food waste isn't really garbage," said Linda Knight, the city's solid-waste coordinator.

And that "food waste" even includes the ubiquitous pizza box. The box was always organic in origin – a tree. But up until now, at least in Renton, it couldn't go into normal paper recycling because it was "contaminated" with all that pepperoni.

Now, the pizza box is food waste, pepperoni and all. That's an example of the "rethinking" that residents will go through in the next few months, according to Knight.

But, they'll have some help. Waste Management and the city are planning an extensive education program to help residents prepare for the change, including open houses and visits to neighborhoods.

Waste Management expects to deliver the new wheeled garbage cars in December.

Customers will receive roughly the same-sized garbage container they have now. Also arriving is the new 96-gallon cart for co-mingled recyclables and a small container (suggested for the countertop) for food scraps.

Customers will keep their current yardwaste cart.

Customers can change their garbage service once a year, without cost.

Waste Management will pick up the yardwaste/food waste cart every week – along with the smelly food waste that some worry about – and the much-reduced garbage (now stripped of that "ick" factor) and the regular recycling every two weeks.

About a half-dozen residents spoke about the proposed changes at the City Council meeting.

One, Brian Morris, expressed the concern of others that it seems the customer is getting fewer services, including less-frequent garbage pickup, while the cost is going up. He supports recycling, but he wonders whether everyone will need to become a "super recycler."

"You are forcing people into a completely different lifestyle," he told the council.

David McCammon, who lives in the Benson Hill area, said initially he was concerned about the switch to twice-weekly garbage pickup, until he learned that the food waste would get picked up weekly.

Marilyn Steiger said she preferred "sliding into" the new service. The new program is designed to control litter by having securely lidded carts. But Steiger said she controlled the litter problem by putting concrete blocks on the lids.

While a basic level of garbage pickup is mandatory in the city, recycling is voluntary, according to Knight.

Council member Randy Corman asked what would happen if the council took no action on the contract, which city staff and officials have worked on for about two years.

Why, he asked, would he throw away a deal he locked in eight years ago while on the council?

A consultant working with the city on the negotiations with Waste Management said the new rates are competitive in the market. Also, the new rates will help moderate the increases that were inevitable, he said. Plus, he said, the customers receive the new recycling services earlier.

Council member King Parker said the city is "cutting a good deal." He said prices don't go down and the future is uncertain.

"I have a sure-fire deal," he said. The city's goal has been to do what's good for everyone, he said.

The council then took its unanimous vote.

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