Think Before You Dump
I blew it when I went to City Garbage yesterday. Had to dump a pile of green waste I had in the back of my truck so decided I'd also get rid of an old tire I had sitting in the garage. I thought last time I went to the recycling center I saw something saying they'd take up to a certain number of tires for free. Nope. Maybe it was car batteries I saw mentioned? They take a certain number of those free.
I get to the recycling center and the guy says I need to take the tire next door where you dump trash and green waste. I head over there. Didn't see any prices for dumping tires except something saying it depended on how many tires you had. Get to the scale and the guy tells me tires go with regular trash.
I dump the tire, then go dump green waste. That's when I realize I shouldn't have dumped the tire because now I'll have to pay for the weight of the tire as well as the green waste, plus whatever individual charge there is for the tire. Damn!
As the scale guy is weighing me he explains there's a minimum charge of $12.00 for regular garbage. That included my one tire, plus an additional charge of $5.25 for the tire. Not only that, but I'm charged regular garbage weight charges instead of green waste weight charges. Regular garbage is much more expensive than green waste. I blew it.
And I guess it wouldn't have mattered. If I took the tire in by itself. I'd still have to pay the $12.00 minimum, plus the per tire fee. That still would have been around $17.25 rather than the almost $22.00 I ended up paying. If I'd just dumped the green waste it shouldn't have cost more than about $7.00.
I was kicking myself in the head as I drove off. If nothing else, I had other large stuff at home I could have thrown in as solid (regular) waste that could have been included with the $12.00 minimum. Now when I end up dumping that stuff I'll have to pay another $12.00.
And the tire? I should have just taken that to Les Schwab Tire Center. Last time they took a tire I had for no charge. Think before you dump!
posted by Fred Mangels @ 8:15 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Thanks for the tip about Les Schwab. I didn't know that.
I'm not sure if that was the choice of the LS guy I was speaking to, or if it's an informal company policy. I get my tires, batteries and stuff at LS, but had never dealt with him before. I was asking him some price or job info and casually mentioned an old tire in the back of my truck and he offered to get rid of it for me.
I really wouldn't have a problem, for convenience sake, just paying the $5.25 per tire that City Garbage charges (that might be based on tire size). I'd rather avoid the $12.00 minimum trash fee that goes along with it, though.
If I'd thought to bring along enough actual trash to make the $12.00 minimum worth paying, I'd probably just go ahead, pay the extra $5 and dump it at City Garbage.
There's a guy on the Free section of Craigslist that says he'll take tires for free now, but I believe they have to be with the rims/ wheels on.
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