McHenry residents could see end of garbage stickers under new trash hauler contract

A new contract could mean McHenry residents have to pay to use a bin with waste hauler Prairieland Disposal moving forward and potentially be charged a base fee for recycling service.

Those terms are not yet finalized as part of the new contract, which would start in the middle of 2022, and the McHenry City Council could choose another company to provide trash and recycling hauling service to local homes and businesses.

The council late last month was leaning toward requesting proposals from other trash services, so officials could view bids by Prairieland competitors instead of negotiating solely with Prairieland to modify and extend its deal with the city.

But the elected leaders ultimately decided to send the matter to the city’s Public Works Committee, a panel made up of three aldermen, for further discussion.

Second Ward Alderman Andy Glab and First Ward Alderman Vic Santi, who both sit on the Public Works Committee, along with Sixth Ward Alderman Patrick Devine, said they wanted the city to issue a request for proposals in order to view all the options the city might attract.

They said that they had no complaints about Prairieland’s service over the five-year contract, which started in 2017 after the city moved on from Waste Management through an earlier request for proposals.

Prairieland President Steve Schweinsberg told the council McHenry is the only city it serves with customers who do not use a curbside bin to place their garbage in and instead buy stickers for $3.40 apiece from local retailers to put on trash bags.

Almost 50% of Prairieland’s McHenry customers elect to purchase the stickers, as it can save customers some money if they produce only a few bags each month. A 35-gallon container costs $23.48 a month under the contract’s pricing for this year, and $24.51 a month for 65-gallon containers and $25.54 for 95 gallons.

Seniors and townhome residents get discounted rates of $19.61 a month for 65 gallons and $18.78 for 35 gallons.

Since many local seniors elect to choose to buy stickers instead of the weekly bin collection, Glab said he had reservations about moving to a system that would require residents to pay for bins. The prices for bins would be lower than Prarieland’s current offerings in the city as there would be more customers using the weekly pickup.

“Some seniors may throw out one bag every two weeks,” Glab said.

If the sticker option remains in place, residents provided recycling bins to use for free may have to start paying a base monthly fee for recycling services, Schweinsberg said.

That’s because the market for American recyclables has shrunk significantly since China imposed limits on how much foreign recyclable material it would accept into its waste stream.

“Recycling at the time when we did this [contract] was basically free. We were paying $25 a ton to get rid of recycling at the transfer station. Now we’re paying $87 per ton. It’s basically tripled in price. It’s more than getting rid of garbage. To continue with that program, we’d have to possibly put a base fee on so everybody would be paying something for the recycling service,” Schweinsberg said.

The monthly costs for the people already paying monthly base fees for bin pickup in McHenry would go down in that scenario, he said.

Prices would also improve for McHenry customers if the city requires residents to pay for garbage bins and does away with the sticker option, because Prairieland could use automated vehicles and save labor costs.

“I cannot go fully automated with bags laying around,” Schweinsberg said.

Some customers on the sticker system have tried ripping stickers in half to apply one sticker to more than one bag, Schweinsberg said, and some have even used stickers from other disposal services in the area.

He also said Prairieland could offer seniors a discount from standard rates, as it does in Island Lake.