Starting today, April 1 2009, the City of Seattle is requiring us to comply with what is called the "Clear Alleys" program. In other words, we will no longer have a dumpster in the alley to put our garbage into.
You will immediately notice when you go to throw out trash that our dumpster is gone.
I will be distributing 15-gallon garbage bags to each apartment in the Watermarke. If you recycle, and you should be recycling, each of these bags should last you about a week.
These are SPECIAL GREEN BAGS that say "Clear Alleys Program" on them and carry the Seattle Public Utilities logo.
YOU CANNOT USE NORMAL GARBAGE BAGS FOR TRASH PICKUP! You must use these special bags only. If you use normal bags the trash will stay in the alley forever.
When the time comes to throw away your garbage just put it into the alley pretty much where the old dumpster was out back. You will see a CLEAR ALLEYS/SPU sign there.
I cannot stress to you enough DO NOT WASTE THESE GARBAGE BAGS. If you put out empty bags our trash collection costs go up and so do your monthly utility costs so PLEASE only put them out when they are very very VERY full.
If you have any questions about this new program visit the program's official website by going here:
http://www.clearalleys.com/
I will be distributing the trash bags to each apartment over the next day so please spread the word to other tenants if you see them in the hallways and such. DO NOT THROW ANY MORE GARBAGE INTO THE ALLEYWAY.
This is a new program and today is the first day so please help me and the SPU and let's make this work.
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1. Thank you for reminding us to use these bags until they are full - the City charges for EACH BAG, so I know we will each be personally affected if our neighbors aren't responsible - thanks!
ReplyDelete2. Will this affect our recycling too? Are we getting different colored bags for recycling?
3. How will you distrubute the bags? I am not home often.
Hi Robert, thank you for the information, however we do have one concern. We normally used the dumpster in the alley to throw away our dog's waste. If there is no dumpster, will there be other trash receptacles provided for this same reason? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThese are all excellent questions. The ones I can't answer I will call the city representative about in the morning. She was quite helpful this afternoon. I can say I will be distributing the bags to each apartment weekly. If you need another one please email me at watermarkeapartments@gmail.com. It is super important that these bags be filled until they are full. We are billed by the bag, not the volume of each bag. I'll post here when I know more about the program. The official website does not answer many of the questions I have either.
ReplyDeleteSo when will we get these bags? We are all waiting and not supposed to dump recycle or anything in the alley way? This is all very annoying.
ReplyDeleteHi Robert - I think we have questions of how and when you will be distributing these bags... Will they be left by our doors? I might want a more secure method than that...
ReplyDeleteBags have been left on all doorknobs of every apartment. I put them out the moment I got them. These bags have to be ordered and delivered by UPS. You can't just go to the local home store and buy a bunch. I'm sorry to those tenants that were affected by this trash surprise but direct your anger towards City Hall for what I feel is a truly dumb idea, and just the latest one I'm sorry to say....
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot to add that I'm working on a more secure, "self-service" kind of method of getting these bags. The bloody problem is these bags are soooooooooo expensive and come in rolls of just ten bags each. I am very angry at the City for springing this hairbrained option on us much like their 20-cent plastic bag tax without much thought or public comment from people like me that are affected by their decisions. Anyway, I'm in touch with other building managers and I'm seeing how they are handling the distribution issue but for now I'll be passing these bags out weekly and if you need an extra one just email me.
ReplyDeleteFood for thought: Possibly create some version of a "vending machine", possibly in the laundry room, or have one evening or weekend regular hours so we can visit you.
ReplyDeleteReduce our WSG to just WS and let us pay actual cost for the bags. The people who use more will pay more.
The logistics are complicated, but if we create the same amount of garbage, the cost of the bags is close to the cost of a dumpster.
Also, what about recycling? I know they will remove that dumpster too. (Also in property management.)
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