OPINION: Athens trash contract discriminates against city renters

“Athens-Hocking Recycling Center recycling bins, October 2020” Photo courtesy of Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers, Inc.

Bryce Hoehn is a senior studying political science and an opinion columnist for The New Political.

Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.

Athens City Council is currently drafting a new trash and recycling contract for next year. As Councilmember Alan Swank stated, the current trash rates can vary between homeowners and renters. The City Council also discussed ways to make its composting program more successful and address the community members who have mentioned the city’s lack of recycling.

Under the current trash contract, every household in Athens pays $22.05 per month for two 32-gallon cans by default. However, homeowners can opt for a single 32-gallon can at a rate of $15.23. This option is not available to renters. While two households may produce the same amount of trash, one may have to pay more simply because they rent their home. This policy is discriminatory towards renters, who are also disproportionately affected by this price difference as they likely have a lower income. The concept of a tiered rate system incentivizes residents to produce less trash and should be available for everyone, including renters.

In 2020, Athens launched its composting program and all residents were automatically enrolled at a rate of $6.33 per month per household. There has since been a wave of opt-outs. Councilmembers Alan Swank and Sarah Grace both commented on how to increase participation in the program.

Swank proposed that residents are not incentivized to compost because they do not receive the finished compost in return. Grace suggested that residents should compost because it's the right thing to do and that the council simply needs to raise awareness of the program. Both councilmembers make some good points, but the larger issue is that many of those who would otherwise participate are not able to since their landlords have opted out on their behalf. Even if the city provides more education and incentives for composting, it will not make much of a difference if renters, who consist of 69.3% of the population, do not have access to the services. 

To increase participation in the composting program, the city needs to either shift the responsibility of opting out from the landlords to the individual tenants or make the program citywide. The latter of which is the solution proposed by Ed Newman, the zero waste director at Rural Action.

Lastly, the city needs to ensure that recycling services for renters are included in trash contract negotiations. Under the current contract, recycling services are not provided to buildings with more than 10 units as they are considered commercial entities. This makes sense; having dozens of recycling bins outside the building would be impractical. Many complexes use separate dumpsters for recycling, but there is no law or incentive for these complexes to do so. River Park apartments, for example, previously offered recycling services but removed its dumpsters last year without explanation. This sparked a petition authored by student Andrew Guidarelli and the student organization Young Democratic Socialists of America for River Park to bring back recycling. The petition obtained 145 signatures, though no further action was taken.

Overall, the city has treated renters as an afterthought in all three waste services. This neglect has created a form of pricing discrimination against renters and hindered Athens’ efforts in fulfilling their environmental commitments. If the city is serious about its dedication to these environmental programs, it should make sure recycling, composting and affordable trash are available to renters. Renters are the majority of the city’s population; any environmental program that does not put them at the forefront is not likely to succeed.