Methods of Collection

There are three methods of collecting garbage:

(1) License System, by which the city licenses certain cartmen, the individuals paying the expenses, usually under regulation of the Board of Health.

(2) Contract System, which provides that city pay a fixed amount annually for service, that certain schedule be paid by householder, or that contractor pay a certain amount to the city for privilege of collecting, and charging the householder for the service.

(3) Municipal System, by which the city does work with own or hired teams. In some cities, city employees collect a part and scavengers or collectors, or both, collect the remainder.

Experts are generally agreed that the best of the three systems is the last. They say that there is always much trouble when the contractor is allowed to collect pay from citizens served, and that to sanitary officers must be given full authority to fine those who fail to have garbage removed. Contractors’ wagons also must be under the close supervision of sanitary officers.

The Chicago Waste Commission’s report says that efficient service can be obtained by contract when the work is specified and the requirements are such as to obligate the contractor to furnish the desired service. The contractor, it asserts, must maintain an effective organization, sufficiently equipped and managed to be able to render proper service. Under this method, it points out, a rigid inspection is necessary on the part of the city and full compliance on the part of the contractor in carrying out his agreement. The report also says that efficient service can be obtained by a municipal collection when the city conducts the work with its own teams and equipment and the men employed on the work are directly responsible to their superiors who in turn are responsible to the public for the service rendered. It gives the following advantages of this method:

(a) The service is rendered as desired. It is not necessary to specify how and what work is to be done, but the work can be conducted so as to meet conditions as they may arise.

(b) The work comes directly under the control of the officials whose chief object is to render satisfactory service at a reasonable cost.

(d) Municipal operation eliminates the tendency on the part of the contractors (when the work is done by contract) to obtain the largest remuneration possible at the least cost.

It is impossible, says the report, to develop efficient organization or to render the best service in collection with hired teams where the driver receives his pay from the employer, who in turn receives his pay from the city for furnishing the team and driver.

In the majority of cities in the United States, the collection is done by the city, which owns its equipment and conducts the work under the supervision of its officials. It has been the experience of these cities that the results of municipal operation have, in most cases, proven satisfactory.

John H. Gregory, sanitary expert, believes that as a general rule the best results may be expected from municipal ownership and operation of collection equipment. A similar opinion is expressed in the report of the Special Commission on the Collection of Municipal Waste, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, reports that under the municipal system, the cost per householder is $1.63 a year, while under the private contract system the cost was $3.00 a year.

Whatever system and method are selected to make it successful a city must (1) provide sufficient appropriation; (2) secure or insist upon an efficient organization; (3) have or require sanitary and economical methods of work, and (4) secure and foster cooperation on the part of the public.