Curbside Collection study shows the majority of respondents are in favor of roll carts in Columbia

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia asked the Solid Waste Utility Group to seek public opinion on the future of automated trash collection.

Following years of debates and City Council votes regarding Columbia's trash issue, the results of a survey conducted by the City have been released. This comes after the City Council voted in December to end its city-logo bag program.

The survey collected responses from 892 residents between Jan. 6-Feb. 10.

• 124 surveys were collected during its two public listening sessions.
• 26 surveys were collected through iPads available at the sessions.
• 742 surveys were collected on the City of Columbia BeHeard website.

The city released the results of the survey Thursday and has scheduled a work session at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall to review the information.

If passed, residential solid waste carts would be required by all single-family homes, duplexes and apartment buildings containing a maximum of four living units, according to the agenda.

Unless otherwise approved by the director, all residents will be required to use the solid waste roll carts for the City's curbside collection services. This includes paying the approved rates.

The city will provide residents with solid waste carts for its weekly trash collection. The carts will be the property of the City of Columbia and are required to remain at the properties they were initially assigned.

The city would offer three cart sizes with varying monthly costs per residency:

• 35-gallon cart: $12.87 per month
• 65-gallon cart: $1737 per month
• 95-gallon cart: $22.50 per month

Residents are encouraged to use carts based on how much trash they produce on a weekly basis. Residents who produce a large amount of trash a week are encouraged to get a 95-gallon cart, if another cart is needed, additional 95-gallon carts can be used for an additional $13.50 per month.

The survey found the majority of respondents are in favor of the idea: 69% of respondents were in favor, 6% were a maybe, while 25% were not in favor.

The survey said the top reasons for residents who are in favor of the roll carts are: Aesthetics, worker safety, easy to use, animal control and good experiences in other cities.

The survey said those opposed top reasons were: Aesthetics, cumbersome, lack of storage space, concern for the elderly/disabled, and thinking that it's not an improvement over the current system.

The results found that:

• Females (74% in favor of roll carts) were more open to the idea than males (64% in favor).
• Roll carts tended to be more popular by those who were younger (90% in favor for Millenials and Gen Z; 79% in favor for Gen X; 63% in favor for Baby Boomers; 32% in favor for the Silent Generation)
• People who have their trash collected on Monday were most likely to oppose the idea, but 55% still approved of the change.
• Ward 1 members (51% in favor) were most likely to oppose the idea of switching.
• Higher-bag users (those using two-four bags) were more likely to be open to the idea.