BILLINGS- While it wasn’t on the agenda, Billings City Council heard discussion about the possibility of moving all garbage collection from alleyway to curbside Monday night after council members said they had heard from residents concerned about the proposal.
Public Works Director Dave Mumford said there is no immediate plan to make the change for all customers, but the city is considering the change.
Right now, Mumford said the city has been changing out many of the larger alley garbage bins to smaller bins that can be rolled to curbside, but only in areas where garbage trucks have difficulty navigating alleys– making driving treacherous.
“They actually have to back all the way up alleys. They are narrow. They are damaging vehicles. They are getting stuck in the wintertime, so we are trying to catch things that are operationally very difficult for us,” Mumford told the council.
Mumford said about 100 customers have had their service changed recently from the larger 300-gallon alleyway bins to the roll out 90-gallon cans.
While there is no imminent plan to do away with all alleyway collection right now, Mumford says he is hoping that it will be discussed at a work session in the new year.
“We would in the future like to start looking at converting 300s to 90s because we can provide a better service. I mean those people already have to roll a can out front for the green barrel,” he told the Council.
