Bedford Advances Overhaul of Garbage Routes

Bedford officials moved closer Tuesday to turning garbage collection from a homeowner’s private responsibility like, say, lawn maintenance, to a quasi-municipal service.

While the new approach would still use private carters, they would pick up along town-defined routes at town-negotiated prices. And, based on reaction at town hall Tuesday, they would do so amid pronounced unhappiness with the new arrangement.

Still, apparently pleased with progress, Supervisor Lee V.A. Roberts closed out a town board work session with plans to draft a proposed ordinance and hire a consultant to help implement the initiative.

On the drawing board for more than a year, the plan has been nurtured by the nonprofit Bedford 2020 Coalition. Peter Kuniholm, chairman of the organization’s solid waste and recycling task force, led the town board on a review of the coalition’s recommendations, all of them discussed at three previous work sessions.

Coalition Co-President Mary Beth Kass said the 2020 proposal followed study of best practices in waste management, locally and nationally.

The recommended new system would replace the traditional practice of homeowners individually choosing a private carter and contracting for garbage pickup. Instead, the town would establish residential and commercial collection routes, then ask private carters to bid on serving those routes.

Homeowners would likely realize savings, officials suggest, through the competitive bidding as well as switching to a graduated schedule of pickup fees. Instead of a uniform per-home price, customers would be charged based on the amount of garbage collected at curbside: one can, two cans or three or more cans. In addition, Kuniholm said, “We would have bulk pickup on an on-call basis.” Provided as part of the basic pickup charge, he said, “there wouldn’t be any disincentive to getting rid of things.”

Although a homeowner would see the collection charge as a separate line item twice a year on the tax bill, it would be a fee for service, not a tax.  

“We’re not reinventing the wheel here,” Councilman Chris Burdick said of the revamped pickup plan. “If anything, we might be a little behind other municipalities.”

Kuniholm said towns like New Castle, North Castle and North Salem that had adopted similar collection schemes paid rates on average about $10 a month less than Bedford homeowners.

While town officials embraced the proposal, private carters at the work session made their unhappiness clear. “I’m bursting inside. I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Tyrone Mayfield, the longtime proprietor of T.M. Carting in Bedford Hills, declared. “We should have stayed home; your minds are made up.”

He said, “I love the Town of Bedford, but it’s ridiculous what they’re doing to the private carters.” Sarcasm rising, Mayfield added, “It’s nice dealing with the Town of Bedford.” With an abrupt “good night,” Mayfield turned on his heel and walked out of town hall.   

Equally unhappy but less demonstrative, Anthony Prestamo of County Waste Management in Harrison asked, “Is the whole goal here to save $10 [a month] per unit in the town?” The proposed garbage-collection overhaul would require voter approval in a townwide referendum. Prestamo promised a political fight for residents’ votes.