Republic Services, the new trash hauler that will begin serving Prairie Village in January, will begin distributing its trash carts to households in mid-December and should have the job wrapped up by Dec. 22, a city official said Monday.
Wes Jordan, assistant city administrator, told the Prairie Village City Council that Republic plans to have five crews distributing the 17,000 trash carts between Dec. 15-22. A mailing will go out to households in November to take orders for either 35-, 65- or 95-gallon carts.
Jordan said the recycling carts will be replaced at the same time.
Republic Services will begin serving Prairie Village on Jan. 1. It’s taking over for Deffenbaugh. The city council approved a 10-year contract with Republic in early September.
The council also approved setting the annual household assessment for disposal services at $192, up from $174 currently. In recent years, the assessment has been as high as $200 and as low as $158.
Included in the agreement are provisions that will keep the current collection schedule, that maintain special collections for resident with hardships, that will continue large item pickups and that see Republic allocating $12,500 per year for community events.
The new contract also calls for fines for excessive missed collections and sets customer service standards.
Jordan said the five crews hired by Republic each are expected to deliver 500 carts per day. The carts will be blue and are being manufactured locally at Rehrig Pacific company in DeSoto.
He estimated 90 percent of the households are expected to order the 65-gallon size cart although all three sizes are available for the same cost.
Jordan anticipated the old Deffenbaugh carts will be collected at the same time as the firm’s last trash/recycling collection during the final week of December.
