Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
If you look out your front window next week and see a large tan can on the curb in front of your house, it’s not an accident.
Sweet Home Sanitation Service is moving into a new method of picking up recycling, said Scott Weld, district manager. The company is switching from the current method, in which customers use gray and yellow bins, to a 90-gallon tan-colored roller can that will be emptied every two weeks instead of every week.
The “Tan Can,” as Weld terms it, will give customers more volume and will keep recycling materials dry and in the container, instead of being blown around by the wind as is sometimes the case in the current gray cans. The cans will be picked up on opposite weeks from the yard debris cans.
Another advantage, he said, is that the new cans can be picked up by a truck, instead of by a worker on foot as the current bins are.
“What’s unique about the program is we’re going to run it as an every-other-week program, opposite the yard debris collection day,” Weld said.
He said that the first tan cans will be distributed on Monday, Aug. 28, and they will go to people who are active recyclers.
“I would encourage people, if they’re an infrequent recycler, to get their recycling bins out on Aug. 28,” Weld said. “That’s who I’ll deliver to. If someone recycles once a month, they need to get it out.”
He said that anyone who does not receive a tan can should call the Sweet Home Sanitation office at 367-2535 and one will be delivered the next time recycling is collected.
The new cans are intended to collect tin, aluminum, magazines, newspaper, junk mail, plastic bottles and tubs (no plastic bags), and corregated cardboard.
Glass items should be placed in the gray or yellow bins and used motor oil should still be placed in a separate container next to the can, he said.
When delivered, the tan cans will have a plastic bag attached that will contain instructions and a schedule of pickups.
“It’s important for people to really be in tune to the flyer that we’re going to pass out with the cans,” Weld said.
He said the first pickups of the new cans will be Sept. 11 and reminded customers to have their garbage and recycling on the curb by 5 a.m.
“As with any new program or new equipment, we need people to be patient with us as we work through the process,” Weld said.