Curmudgeon's Corner

Village Buzz - October 1st...

Posted by Al Campbell on Oct. 1, 2010

Germantown, Quality of Life, Village Buzz

These Things Are Big…

We are now the proud possessors of a 96 Gal. Waste Management Services recycling container.  It made its appearance on September 30^th and will be the official container from now until we can get it changed.  Our first recycle pick-up is scheduled for the second week in October since we are in a ‘yellow’ pick-up area.  We are also now Wednesday people instead of Thursday people.

The container now sits at the right front bumper of my vehicle and that means that my spouse will have to walk around the back of the vehicle to get in or out from now on.  Not a big deal I’ll admit, but a pain in the rump nonetheless especially when cold snow or wet rain is blowing into the garage.  I suppose it could go outside but that would create a neighborhood of eyesores that I’d prefer didn’t exist.  I also suspect that a raccoon could find a way to gain entry since not everything will be odor-free when it goes into the container.

This thing comes up to my elbow and I couldn’t get my arms around it if I tried.  It stands about 46” tall and the top measurements are approximately 34” front to back and 26” side to side.  It does taper at the bottom, but still must fit into a space that accommodates the top measurement and the height, not to mention that you need to be able to open the large top to get anything inside.  It takes up quite a piece of real estate.

It will likely not be more than half full (and probably less than that) in a two-week cycle since there are two of us in the household and we’d almost have to be awake 24/7/14 to fill it.  Had I been making decisions for the village, I’d have likely planned for choice preferences to be stated and then one or the other of these two sizes being delivered at the beginning.  I’d bet that there would be fewer change-outs that way than there will be in this case.

We are told that we have to put this new collection container at curbside, not in the street, and with at least three feet of clearance from all other trash containers and other objects.  That is going to be a bit of a challenge in the winter given the high snow piles at the mouth of the driveway.  It will even be a challenge in the summer since we’ll have to be able to get in and out of the driveway when it is sitting out there.

I noticed similar containers in Menomonee Falls a week or two ago on a windy day.  There were numerous containers lying on the fronts or sides with the top flap open and materials spewed around on the ground or driveway.  Given the larger upper measurements, it seems that these things might just be prone to tipping more easily, especially in some of the strong winds we have during seasonal transitions.

Heeding the Village of Germantown press release of a week or so ago, I have marked my calendar for December 1^st when my 60 day stay in 96 gal. container purgatory has come to an end, so that I can formally request this big boy be picked up with its smaller 64 Gal. cousin left in its place.  The footprint may still be the same but maybe we can find a more convenient place to store it.