Big Change Coming? Portland Considers Trashing Purple Bags For 2017

Complaints and criticism has driven the City of Portland to consider overhauling the curbside collection of trash and recycling within city limits. According to the Portland Press Herald, some of the options Portland could turn to includes privatizing trash collection as a whole.

City councilors will discuss multiple options on June 14th. One thing is becoming crystal clear however, the current system as Portland residents know it, will change. The City of Portland has drawn sharp criticism on multiple fronts for the current way things operate. One of the biggest complaints is the amount of excess litter from recycling bins. Currently, the recycling bins the city provides to residents are far too small for amount of recycling taken in.

Another major complaint is whether or not the municipal workers picking up both trash and recycling are actually separating the two. Video surfaced recently of workers mixing the two together, leaving some residents of Portland outraged.

One of the suggested fixes would be to provide residents with larger bins for both trash and recycling collection. Currently, South Portland and Westbrook have enacted that program. There's also talk of turning collection services private, which would save the city money up front, but would disengage the city from day-to-day operations. It could also cost the city important snow plow operators for the winter.

Regardless of whatever changes are enacted, the City of Portland is unlikely to get rid of trash bag fees. Whether or not those bags are purple, blue, brown or red is inconsequential. City officials believe that forcing residents to pay for the amount of waste they create, has led to a vibrant recycling program.