Snellville's sanitation fund has negative balance

If you can read between the lines or if you're an amateur fortune-teller like myself, you may think that our sanitation billing situation may change sometime in the future. Clearly, the money's got to come from somewhere.

City Manager Russell Treadway presented the city’s fourth quarter financial report Monday.“This was a break-even year” because capital projects were postponed, said Treadway. The Sanitation Fund is still a concern, because it has a negative fund balance. The city’s fund balance is much lower than it should be, another concern for Treadway. “We’re OK for now, but we need to get better, and soon.”

                                                                                                                                      Excerpted from:  Snellville tourism board off to good start

Gwinnettdailypost.com

When You Have Too Much Trash...

This entry is from 2008.  Please be aware that some prices and information may have changed.

If all your trash won't fit into your trash can, there is a solution. I've written about this before, but it seems like there are still people who don't know about the Official Blue Snellville Trash Bags!

If all your trash won't fit in your trash can, don't try to do an elaborate, precipitously balanced display of bags on top of your trash can. Most of the time, the sanitation guys will not take those bags, no matter how beautifully balanced they may be.

The city says:

"To insure that any extra trash will be picked up,
you will need to purchase City Snellville extra trash bags.
The bags are available at Publix and Kroger on
Scenic Hwy, City Hall and the Public Works office.
Place your extra trash inside the blue bags alongside
your cart on your regularly scheduled pick up day. "

The blue trash bags do cost - it is $27 for a box of 20 bags... each bag holds 32 gallons. They are huge bags, and if you use them, stuff them to the max, but they can't weigh more than 50 pounds each for pickup.

I kind of think of it like postage for my trash, but really it's just paying more if you need to dump more - I like the idea of only those who need a service are paying for it.

It keeps everyone from being charged or taxed additionally, when they may not produce much waste. So, I think it's pretty fair. Our family produces a lot of trash. I try to fill the recycle bin all I can. Using your recycle bin is one way to reduce the waste that's filling up your trash can. We have a great recycling center here in Snellville and I should try to use it more, too.

If you have cardboard boxes you would like to recycle, they must be taken to the Snellville Recycling Center, located right behind the Elizabeth William's Library Branch on Lenora Church Road. Boxes and cardboard are not picked up curbside for recycling. If you want to get rid of cardboard boxes from your curb, then you will need to put them in your trash bin or put them in the blue prepaid Snellville trash bags...but keep in mind, they won't be recycled if you do that.

You can recycle as many items as you want to though - and if it won't all fit in your recycling bin, you can put them in a bag clearly marked RECYCLING on set the bag on top of the recycling bin.

If you have yard waste, did you know the City can send a wood chipper out to your house? The charge for city crews to come out and operate the wood chipper is $35.00 for up to 1 hour. If you need this additional service or have questions, contact the sanitation department at 770-985-3527.

How to get rid of toxic stuff

No, I'm not talking about your mother in law.

This post is for people who are too busy to read the little yellow insert that arrived inside the water bill from Gwinnett County Public Utilities. You see it as extra junk in your bill, I see it as "Yee-haw! Blog content!!!"

The timing is perfect, because the weekend in the Fall is a popular time for cleaning out of garages, where we store most of this dangerous stuff.

Examples of hazardous household wastes are:

• paints
• solvents
• batteries
• automobile fluids
• herbicides and pesticides

Do NOT:

• pour these things down the household drain
• throw in the garbage
• pour into ditches, storm drains, or gutters
• dump or bury
• burn

DO:

• use it up
• give the product to someone else who can use it (I'd use Freecycle.org)
• avoid buying hazardous products in the future

To report the illicit discharge of Household Hazardous Wastes, or any other pollutants to the storm sewer system, please call Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources 24/7 at 678-376-7000.

For information about reducing, recycling, and disposing of Household Hazardous Wastes in Gwinnett County, contact Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful at 770-822-5187 or visit the website at www.gwinnettcb.org - they can provide helpful tips and disposal locations

For general information about the disposal of HHW, consult the Guide to Best Management Practices for Household Hazardous Waste and Radon by visiting the Pollution Prevention Assistance Division (P2AD) website at www.p2ad.org