As Perry’s new garbage routine went into effect Monday, the city’s move to centralized collection of recycling also began with the establishment around town of three “citizen convenience centers,” as the Iowa Department of Natural Resources calls the drop-off spots.
Roll-off dumpsters are now available to receive recycling:
- in the lot east of the Public Safety Building at 908 Willis Ave.
- in the main parking lot of the McCreary Community Building at 1800 Pattee St.
- in the south side of the Dewey Field parking lot in the 2700 block of Warford Street
Perry residents currently pay $19 a month for weekly garbage collection, a fee that previously included curbside recycling pickup and still includes seasonal yard waste pickup. The Perry City Council approved changes to the city’s recycling and garbage arrangements in February.
“I think if you take the (curbside) recycling away, there’s not going to be that many people who will take it somewhere else,” said Council member Vicki Klein in February. “I just don’t think there will.” Many comments Monday on ThePerryNews Facebook page echoed Klein.
“I would’ve liked that they kept the curbside recycle,” said one resident. “I would’ve been fine if they charged me an extra $5 to $10 a month. Oh well, guess I’ll stop recycling and put it with my trash.”
“I won’t recycle anymore,” said another Perry person. “I’ll just have more trash.”
Several people lamented the loss of curbside convenience.
“If recycling isn’t made easy, people just wont do it, and that is sad,” said one commenter.
“To heck with Mother Earth,” said a resident. “My convenience is the most important thing.”
City officials reminded residents Monday about the difference between the three city recycling containers and the one Dallas County container on the south side of Perry.
“County residents should use the trailer by the county shed,” said Perry Finance Officer Susie Moorhead. “Perry residents should use the three city recycle dumpsters – by the police station, by the McCreary Center and in the football field parking lot. The three city dumpsters will be dumped by the city on a regular basis. The city of Perry has no control over the county trailer.”
The county’s recycling arrangements are themselves in flux. The recycling bins available for residents of the unincorporated area of Dallas County are “currently pulled on demand,” according to Ted Trewin, director of the Dallas County Environmental Health Department. “There is no regular pickup schedule.”
Trewin recommended to the Dallas County Board of Supervisors at the July 3 meeting that the county move to regularly scheduled pickups. He said the county currently pays $229.50 to Waste Management Inc. each time the company empties a dumpster at one of the five collection sites where rural residents can drop off their recycling. The sites are found in:
- Woodward at 106 Ninth St. on the north of the Casey’s General Store
- Redfield at 1206 Omaha St.
- Washington Township on the northwest corner of County Road P58 and County Road F31, north of the Washington Township School
- Perry at 14368 J Ave. in the Dallas County Secondary Roads Department parking lot
- Linden at the southeast corner of North and Main streets
A sixth collection container, in Waukee west of the five-way stop on Ashworth Road, was recently removed. The container at the Perry site has also been the object of recent complaints.
Trewin said the move from on-demand to regularly scheduled collection would save the county about $18,000 annually in staff time and mileage because his department would no longer need to minotor the contents of the dumpsters.
Under a regular schedule with Waste Management Inc, the Perry and Woodward containers would be emptied weekly, the Redfield and Washington Township School sites bi-weekly and the Linden dumpster monthly.
