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So, whose advice DO you follow? The city's? The PMUA's? |
I decided it would be unfair to give the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority a kick in the shins last week while it was in the throes of a rate increase hearing.
After all, those who came out to the hearing were already fired up -- why add fuel to the flames?
Well, the rate hike is over and all bets are off.
When the 2011 solid waste and recycles pickup schedule arrived in the mail in late December, I was pleased that the PMUA had at last got itself organized to get the info in the ratepayers' hands in a timely fashion.
Then I took a close look at the calendar. Wow!
Having gone to great lengths to organize a rational schedule over the past few years (paper products on the first and third Wednesdays; bottles and glass on the second and fourth and nothing on the fifth), the 2011 schedule received by 15,000 or so Plainfield households is chaotic, to say the least (see the online copy here).
Not only that, there is plenty of countervailing information out there -- while the city posts a copy of the schedule that was mailed out, the city's own calendar for 2011 carries out the old (correct?) schedule, advising putting out papers on the first Wednesday, etc; the PMUA's own website still has the the 2010 schedule up.
Talk about higgledy-piggledy.
As it stands now, only April, May, June, September, October and November follow the papers-first routine; all the other months have bottles/cans first.
What to do?
I suggest taking the PMUA at its word and putting out what is called for in the mailer.
Another ratepayer suggested they were going to put everything out and let the PMUA have its pick.
Let's just hope this doesn't mean there is a summons on its way to you for the wrong putout.
That would be a truly great public relations move.
- City of Plainfield: "2011 PMUA Schedule" (PDF)
- "PMUA" | "DumpPMUA"
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10 comments:
Not to mention that it will be a full 4 weeks since the last paper/cardboard pickup. If they do pick up tomorrow and people put out bottles and cans then it will be 5 weeks for many people.
Dan, it appears PMUA is compensating for the holidays that would have been grey for paper during those months and keeping their same sequence of alternating colors.
Siddeeq W. El-Amin
Here's an idea! To help the PMUA out, why don't all good citizens take their own recyclables down to the dump on Rock Ave! This would leave PMUA free to devote their time and energies to garbage pickup!
Great idea. I'll take over the responsibilities of the PMUA and do my own hauling to Rock Ave. Can we dissolve them now?
Thanks for pointing this out, Dan. PMUA alternated weekly pick-ups between plastic/glass and papers, and then simply eliminated whatever pick-up fell on the fifth week of a month. Result is four scheduled gaps of 4 weeks between pick-ups in April, July, September and December. Who is accepting responsibility for creating this schedule? Haven't they heard of the saying "don't mess with success," or "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?"
I called and found that co-mingled items will be picked up tomorrow.
The PMUA should just mail out new calendars and bill it as a shared service. It's time to dissolve.
Why not just reinstitute recycling pickup on a weekly basis and include the fifth weeks of the month as well, instead of providing four extra holidays per year?
Re: GARBAGE
In the state of Los Angeles, California -there is one pickup per week. There are three containers set out once a week: trash, recycles, and brush. There isn't any brainwork and complicated schedules other than put out the three containers once a week. They don't have to remember which week is carton and paper and which week is glass, plastics or whatever. And . . . there isn't any bill. I believe it is all under the umbrella of TAXES.
Why does Plainfield New Jersey have to be so complicated?!
Replying to 9:59 AM: Because this city is so corrupt and we have leaders who are only interested in their own needs.
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