Woodlands Neighbors: Put a Lid on it

Typical Monday morning in the Woodlands. It’s trash day and the streets are lined with mismatched garbage cans and trash bags.  Many of the cans are missing lids and have garbage piled high. Most of the garbage has been out since Sunday evening and is already a real eyesore when walking or driving by.

It doesn’t have to look this bad, as repeat offenders with exposed garbage should be cited by our Architectural Control Committee. Sometimes our neighbors just get complacent about replacing their worn out garbage can. Many neighbors do not even bother buying a garbage can. This makes our streets look, well, trashy.

Another option is for the city to distribute garbage cans in cooperation with their garbage company.  Communities like Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Cooper City and Davie. In Miramar, the city recently signed a new service contract with Waste Pro, saving each resident $8.00 a month or almost $100 a year.  They will no longer use All Service Refuse Solid Waste & Recycling, which is the company that the City of Tamarac uses. Miramar was able to save their city money as well, by agreeing to have Waste Pro handle residential and commercial garbage for the entire city. As part of their new contract, every resident received a new garbage can. These 96 gallon cans have attached lids and wheels for rolling to and from the curb.

When I lived in Davie, our town made the switch to Waste Management where they provided the same type of garbage cans. Gone were the lost lids and broken wheels on our Home Depot cans. These new garbage cans could hold twice as much trash and made every home on our street look uniform on trash day. Waste Management also provided automated trucks that would grab the cans, lift them up and dump them into the truck. No more walking by smelly garbage in the mornings, and the secure lids kept birds and critters out of the cans as well.

Hopefully, our city commissioners will look into this type of system when our contract with All Service Refuse is up. In the meantime, please put a lid on your garbage.