Cheektowaga council addresses concerns regarding new garbage totes

There was a lot of trash talking at Monday’s board meeting, as residents and council members discussed issues regarding soon to come, garbage totes. The town estimates that the totes will be given to residents on November 7.

“How could you only give two totes to a four family complex,” questioned one resident.

As of now, the town is only allowing two totes, per apartment complex, no matter how many people live there. Residents are allowed to purchase an additional tote if they wish, but the cost would be around $41 per tote. Members told residents that while they are only allotting two totes for complexes, and one tote per household, the totes would hold up to 150 lbs, while resident’s current garbage cans, only hold 40 lbs. The larger totes would allow for more garbage storage and perhaps the luxury of only taking your garbage out, every couple of weeks.

The town encouraged residents to keep their old garbage can for yard waste, like grass, and leaves, since those items cannot be placed in the new totes.

“Whatever you put in your garbage can now, goes in the tote, everything else stays the same,” said Councilmember Stanley Kaznowski.

For those who don’t wish to keep their garbage can, the town is looking into the possibility of having them picked up.

“The totes are new for us, and they will have some kinks but the board is open to suggestions,” said Kaznowski.

The new totes will include packages that tell residents what goes in the totes, and what does not. Car batteries, dirt, bricks, and microwave ovens are still not allowed. The manufacturers will be distributing the totes, at around 1,000 to 1,300 a day.

Each tote will have a bar code and a serial number on them. Every time the manufacturer drops off a tote, it will be scanned and recorded by house number, and the town will know where every single tote is.

The totes have a warranty for 10 years so if one breaks, it would not be the homeowner’s responsibility to pay for it. That is unless the resident puts more than 150 lbs of garbage in their tote; excessive weight can damage the tote, and it would be the owner’s responsibility to pay for it.

The town understands that with changes, comes problems, but they consider the new totes a great step forward and are willing to work with residents on any questions and concerns.

Also brought up at the meeting, the town passed a resolution for an executive agreement with NCourt LLC, which is an online fine payment system. Residents, whom previously had to come to court to pay a fine, will no longer have to. All they have to do is pay online with their credit card. There would be a small service fee for using the system, but it would save people the time of not having to go out of their way to pay their tickets.

“Our hope with this is to ease the burden and make the payment so we can retain more money, so the town can have it for future use,” said Councilwoman Angela Wozniak.