This web page is provided so residents can have access to as much information as possible concerning the issue of trash service in Kent.
If you still have questions not answered below, please feel free to call the Kent Public Service Department at (330) 678-8105 or R&R Sanitation at (330) 628-9609.
UPDATE:Giant Eagle Grocery In Stow (Target Plaza) and the Acme Grocery in Kent (SR 59) are now selling R&R Trash bags for Kent trash service. UPDATE: Universal Trash Bags will be collected by R&R Sanitation thru March 1, 2010. Read More..View the maps(Map 1) (Map 2)and street listingsof the New Trash and Recycling Schedule to confirm your collection day.
Click Hereto Download a hardcopy of the form to be mailed to R&R Sanitation 1447 Martin Road, Mogadore Ohio 44260. You can read the details of the service options below.
City Council Approves Managed Trash Service in Kent(updated 6/12/09)
With City Council’s approval to convert to a single trash hauler in May 2009, the City staff is busy making plans for implementation of the new trash service. Residents will be receiving information packets in June that explain the details of the new service, including collection schedule and levels of service available. Residents can begin signing up for the new service which will be available beginning August 1, 2009. For residents that have already paid their current trash hauler for another 3 months, they are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible but they have until February 2010 to enroll in the new service.
What’s Next
Here’s a tentative implementation schedule for 2009:
May 20, 2009 City Council Approves the Citywide Trash Contract
July 7, 2009 Service Introductory Letter from City Manager to Residents
July 14, 2009 Trash Service Information Package Mailed to City Residents
August 1, 2009 New Trash Service Ready to Start in Kent
August - February New Trash Service Enrollment Period
Here’s the Introductory Letter from the City Manager
Over the last 2 years Kent City Council has been studying trash services to make sure Kent residents were getting the best service at the lowest price possible.
In our research we discovered that nationally 2 out of 3 cities manage trash services for their residents and Kent was part of a declining minority that left it up to residents to fend for themselves. When we looked at our peer cities in Ohio we found that all of the state university cities, except Kent, took a direct role in managing trash services. Out of basic utilities like gas, electric, water, sewer and recycling, trash collection was the only utility that was not being managed in Kent.
City Council wasn’t looking to get into the trash service business but when they saw that Kent residents were paying as much as 40% more for the same service than residents in other cities they felt an obligation to act on Kent residents’ behalf and try to get them the best deal possible.
That prompted City Council to ask the City staff to come up with a plan to save money and improve Kent’s neighborhoods through better trash service. The staff recommended converting to a single trash hauler, and after a competitive bidding process, R&R Sanitation was awarded the contract by City Council on May 20, 2009.
Under the new contractyou should save anywhere from 10% to 40% on your monthly trash bill. Fewer trash trucks working in Kent also means less wear and tear on City streets, less truck traffic and noise in neighborhoods, less chance for property damage or accidents, lower emissions and a smaller carbon footprint for Kent.
We’re pleased to be able to offer this new service but we recognize this is a significant transition and I wanted you to know that we’re committed to making this change as smooth as possible for you. The City staff will be working closely with you and R&R Sanitation every step of the way to make sure you understand all of the services offered in this new trash contract.
You will soon be receiving a package in the mail from the City Public Service Department and R&R Sanitation containing the information you’ll need to change your trash service. The City contract will allow Kent residents to begin signing up for the new R&R Sanitation trash service, at the new city rates, beginning in August 2009.
Please be looking for this information in the mail over the next couple of weeks and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call R&R Sanitation at 1-800-628-3109 or the City Public Service Department at (330) 678-8105.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we make this change to serve you better.
To read the terms of the trash service contract with R&R Sanitation: Click HereLooking at Managed Trash Service in Kent
PUBLIC MEETING #1: FEBRUARY 25, 2009, 7 PM CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
PUBLIC MEETING #2: APRIL 8, 2009, 7 PM CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE DISCUSSION DATE: MAY 6, 2009
CITY COUNCIL REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING DATE: MAY 20, 2009
For more information or questions, contact Mr. Gene Roberts, Public Service Director, City of Kent, at 330.678.8105.
Issue Chronology
Here’s a short review (in chronological order) of the history of City Council’s consideration of the possibility of moving towards a managed trash service in Kent:
October 25, 2006 Council Health and Safety Committee Discussion on trash service and neighborhood impacts.
January 22, 2007 Memo From Gene Roberts updating status of managed trash service research Download this file February 28, 2007 City Council Health and Safety Committee discussion on single hauler possibility as part of neighborhood improvement effort.
February 6, 2008 Council Health and Safety Committee directed staff to perform investigate and report on options for citywide trash service. Here’s Gene’s powerpoint Download this file
July 31, 2008 Citywide Trash Bid Cover Memo from Gene Roberts, Public Service Director Download this file
Managed Trash Overview Over the last 5 years the City has initiated a wide range of productivity improvements to help curtail the financial crunch that we’ve been facing. Those efforts have worked to the tune of about $1 million in workforce reductions and nearly $5 million in materials, supplies and contracts. $6 million is a lot of money but it’s not enough – which is why we’re still out there looking for more opportunities to save money. That’s how we first got interested in looking at trash collection in Kent.
It turns out that nationally 2 out of 3 cities manage trash services in their community either through municipal collection or through some form of city contract with private haulers. As we look at Kent’s trash haul free-for-all it is part of a declining minority that leave it up to homeowners to fend for themselves and arrange their own trash collection and disposal services. As a basic utility like electric, water, sewer, and even recycling, trash collection is the only one that has the distinction of not being managed in Kent.
As we’ve researched the issue it’s become apparent that by not having some form of management of trash in Kent, our residents are paying a premium for the exact same service that residents in our neighboring cities are paying less for. On top of the extra money being taken out of our pockets, we also have to deal with trash being set out for collection by trash trucks that increase congestion, disrupt our neighborhoods, and wear down our streets 5 days of the week rather than once a week as in those other cities.
Armed with this information we thought we owed it to Kent residents to take a closer look at what we could do as a city to save money and improve our neighborhoods by initiating some form of management oversight for trash collection in Kent. The staff and City Council do not take changing trash service lightly but after 2 years of study and looking at prospective savings of over $250,000 a year for Kent residents, we thought the time was right to take another step forward.
In October 2008 City Council authorized the staff to put a citywide (residential only) trash bid out on the street to see what sort of numbers we get back. It’s great to estimate savings but we need to see it in writing before we’d consider making any recommendations to City Council to change anything. The bid should be advertised before the end of 2008 and then the staff would bring the bid responses back to City Council for discussion in early 2009.
The terms of the bid are specifically broad in order to allow residents the opportunity to maintain the same type of service they currently receive just at a more beneficial rate. In the trash collection business density of customers is the key to profitability and a citywide bid dramatically improves customer density. So much so in fact, in every example we found the private hauler passed a significant savings back to the customers as part of the bid. As an example on a smaller scale, a Kent homeowner association reported saving 25% by pooling together to bid their neighborhood trash service last year.
Certainly there’s no guarantees of saving money until the bids are submitted but Aurura and Hiram just recently converted from the trash haul free-for-all to a managed system and they saved their residents between 25% and 35% on their monthly bills. At a time when every penny counts we felt an obligation to see what we could save on our resident’s behalf as well.
To make sure we were heading in the right direction we looked at cities that have a reputation for being great places to live in northeast Ohio to see how they managed trash. Of those, here’s a sampling of the cities that manage trash services in their communities: Aurora, Mentor, Hudson, Twinsburg , Shaker Heights , Euclid, and Medina. Plus, since we’re a large university city (which adds extra stress on trash issues) we looked at how the other university cities in Ohio managed trash. It turns out that all of the other state university cities, except Kent, took a direct role in managing the trash flow in their cities.
By moving forward with a franchise type of bid for each of the 4 quadrants of the city, we fully expect to see meaningful savings for trash customers in Kent through improved routing. Fewer trucks on our streets mean less wear and tear on streets and curbs, better safety, less noise and truck traffic in neighborhoods which also means less potential for property damage or accidents, and even less emissions that we breathe in at our homes which means a healthier and smaller carbon footprint for Kent.
On the negative side, some folks have expressed concerns over losing their right to choose their own trash hauler. Under the citywide scenario people would indeed lose that choice. Obviously that’s a decision we’d have to make but it’s not unlike the decision we made to have one recycling provider or one water provider. Freedom of choice is a great thing but sometimes there are costs to be paid for choice and as a community we decided long ago that for some areas, like Police and Fire, we’re willing to concede our right to choose to ensure a safer, better community. Do we all want to hire our own police security, or handle the fire at our own house, probably not.
It appears that in general, most people agree to keep these a “public” service, to pool our funds and have the best equipment and people we can afford for these services rather than have each person hire there own fireman and policeman. What we’re trying to figure out now is whether it makes sense to add trashman to that list as well.
At this point (October 2008) all City Council has authorized is the next phase of analysis for determining the feasibility of possibly implementing a managed trash service in Kent. There are many logistical issues that Council would have to consider before taking a vote to actually make any change. However, because it is something new City Council thought it was important to have this information included on the City’s web site so that residents could stay informed.
TRASH BID UPDATE 2/24/09
The trash bids are in and three local trash haulers submitted their prices for the City’s consideration. R&R Sanitation was the lowest bidder and here’s a quick look at how their proposed prices stack up against average trash rates currently being charged in Kent:
Service Level Current R&R Bid Customer (lowest to highest)Average PricePriceSavings/Expense
30 Gallon Can $ 10/month $ 9.20/month save 80 cents/month
60 Gallon Can $ 17.21/month $ 10.30/month save $6.91/month
90 Gallon Can $ 19.80/month $ 13.40/month save $6.40/month
Unlimited $ 24.05/month $ 20.50/month save $3.55/month
It appears that out of 5 service levels 4 will save Kent residents anywhere from $10 to $80 a year. The buy the bag service fee is the only fee that is higher than the current going rate by roughly $6 more per year.
If you figure this service includes 6,600 households in Kent, the cumulative savings to City residents (depending upon what levels of service City residents sign up for) appears to be in the range of $75,000 to $300,000. At a time when every penny counts that’s a fairly significant savings.
The tough question is whether it’s worth asking that portion of the population of Kent who buy their own bags to pay an extra $6/year in order to get all the benefits of a citywide trash service. Or is there a way for the City to offset that $6/year cost to keep those residents whole? These are the kinds of questions that City Council hopes to hear some answers to at their planned public meetings.
TRASH BID UPDATE 5/8/09
City Council asked the staff to go back and summarize the comments from the 2 public meetings and do more research to try to address the main issues. Sixteen issues were identified as common points of discussion and the staff presented them in a summary report. Click Here for Summary Report
One of the main points of interest was a cost concern for the buy the bag service. Originally the per bag bid price (for the buy the bag level of service) was higher than the going rate so City Council asked us to see if we could negotiate the price per bag down to be competitive with current market rates. Each bag costs $1.85 so if you’re able to stretch your trash to one bag every 4 weeks that’s only $1.85 per month or if you can make it last 2 months it’s still only $1.85. Either way, you essentially control your cost, and honestly you can’t find a cheaper cost than $1.85 for trash anywhere.
The current going rate for bags in 2009 at ACME and Giant Eagle is $2.15 per bag or $2.29 after tax. The City’s original bid price for the bag service was $2.40 per bag which we figured equated to $4.80 per month since most people probably use 2 bags per month. But remember, you control the cost based on how many bags you use, and if you’re able to get by with one bag per month your cost would have been $2.40 per month.
I say your cost would have been $2.40 because we actually negotiated a lower price. We went back to the trash hauler and said how can we lower the bag cost for our residents. He said that a significant part of his price was the cost of ordering and delivering the bags to retail outlets for sale. The hauler said that if the City would assume those duties the price to the City would be $1.50 per bag. We then calculated a cost for adding a city logo to the bag and handling the bags for sale at City Hall for a total revised cost of $1.85 per bag. That works out to be 30 cents less than the 2009 market rate per bag (44 cents after tax).
With the revised cost (of $1.85) every trash customer in Kent would save money under the new trash system. We think going to a single hauler has a lot of other quality of life in the neighborhoods kind of benefits but I realize that people will ultimately judge this based on the impact on their bill and we are now able to save people anywhere from $5 per year to $80 per year.
It’s important to remember that under the City contract, residents will be given the option to choose what type of service they want. Right from the start we told the trash bidders that they have to offer the same different levels of trash service that people can get today. That’s why we have a range of prices – a price for a buy the bag option, a price for a 60 gallon can, 90 gallon can, unlimited, etc. So if you like the incentive system of paying based on what you set out, you’ll still have that option with the buy the bag service. Your neighbors though might choose 60 gallon or unlimited. The City is just trying to leverage the aggregate number of customers citywide to get the best price possible for residents for every service level.
There’s always going to be some bugs to work out but for the amount of money we can save people and for all the neighborhood benefits we think the idea has enough merit to at least give it a try. Council will take a final vote on Wednesday, May 20th and if approved there would be a 6 to 9 month transition period.
PUBLIC MEETING #1: FEBRUARY 25, 2009, 7 PM CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
PUBLIC MEETING #2: APRIL 8, 2009, 7 PM CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE DISCUSSION DATE: MAY 6, 2009
CITY COUNCIL REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING DATE: MAY 20, 2009
For more information or questions, contact Mr. Gene Roberts, Public Service Director, City of Kent, at 330.678.8105.
New Trash Service Account Information
On May 20, 2009 Kent City Council voted to introduce a new citywide trash service in Kent under contract with locally owned and operated R&R Sanitation Incorporated.
The new trash service is scheduled to be available to Kent residents beginning August 1, 2009. Since residents may have pre-paid contracts with their existing trash haulers, arrangements have been made with R&R to allow Kent residents time to finish out their current contracts and notify their hauler before making the switch to R&R Sanitation.
Most trash contract billing cycles are every 3 months so before you pay for another quarter with your current hauler, make the switch and save anywhere from 10% to 40% on your next bill.
Kent residents can begin the new service as early as August 1, 2009 but you have until March 1, 2010 to close out your existing contract and start service with R&R.
Just like recycling, participation in the new trash service is mandatory. Making it mandatory was the only way to guarantee enough customers to get the discounted rates from R&R.
If you own a residential property – defined as owner occupied or rental single family dwellings, duplex, triplex or boarding houses in Kent – you must sign up for the new service. The service does not include commercial, industrial or large residential properties like apartment complexes.
If your residence shares a dumpster with adjacent properties please contact the City Service Department (330 678-8105) to discuss your participation in the new service.
The new trash service offers 5 standard levels of service, each priced according to the quantity of trash set out each week. You should decide which service level meets your needs and complete the new subscriber form either online or via mail it in to R&R Sanitation, 1447 Martin Road, Mogadore, Ohio 44260.
You may change your service level at any time prior to the next billing cycle by contacting R&R Sanitation. Anyone that fails to sign up will automatically be billed for the 60 Gallon service starting in March 2010.
Bulk item collection is offered by R&R Sanitation. The unlimited service option offers bulk items for pick up without any extra fee (in reasonable quantities); all other service levels must pay the collection fees listed below. Bulk item requests should be called in to R&R Sanitation (330 628-9609) at least 2 days prior to pick up. For items not listed, price quotes are available by contacting R&R Sanitation directly.
Window Air Conditioner* $ 50
Refrigerator* $ 75
Auto Parts (50 lbs. limit) $ 10
Shower/Tub $ 10
Sink $ 5
Construction debris (50 lbs) $ 10
Sofa $ 10
Chair (upholstered) $ 5
Chair (wood) No Charge
Bed Springs $ 5
Bathroom Tub $ 20
Dehumidifier* $ 50
Stove/Oven $ 10
Dishwasher $ 10
Swing Set (disassembled) $ 10
Dryer $ 10
Table $ 5
Freezer* $ 75
Television $ 10
Hot Water Tank $ 10
Tires on Rims (limit of 4) $ 10
Tires Rimless (up to 4) $ 10
Incinerator $ 10
Loose Debris (50 lbs.) $ 5
Toiler and Tank $ 5
Mattress $ 5
Washer $ 10
*includes cost to remove refrigerant
Trash will be collected Monday through Thursday, except in holiday weeks where each collection day will be one day later than normal and Friday will be used to make up for the holiday. There are six (6) major holidays that will impact your service: New Years Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The yearly schedules are printed on the back of each bill.
The City has been divided into 4 quadrants corresponding to the 4 collection days. Your trash and recyclables should be set out for collection the night before your collection day and all cans should be returned to your home the evening after they were emptied. Collections will be made between 8 am and 9 pm on your designated collection day.
Portage County has agreed to use the same schedule for recycling so you will have one day to remember.
Use the map below to find your new trash collection day.
R&R Sanitation will handle all trash service collection and billing questions, so if you need customer assistance call 330 628-9609. Trash billing will be performed on a quarterly basis and you will be billed for the next 3 months prior to the start of each quarter. All payments for trash services should be directed to R&R Sanitation.
For Buy the Bag service, residents may purchase the specially designated bags at the Kent Finance Office located at the corner of Summit Street and Depeyster Street, Monday thru Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. The bags are sold in lots of 10 at a price of $1.85 per bag.
Questions or concerns with your recycling service should be handled through the Portage County Solid Waste District at 330 678-8808.
If you are not satisfied with the service you are receiving from R&R please contact the City’s Service Department at (330) 678-8105.
process, 
some form of management of trash in Kent, our residents are paying a premium for the exact same service that residents in our neighboring cities are paying less for. On top of the extra money being taken out of our pockets, we also have to deal with trash being set out for collection by trash trucks that increase congestion, disrupt our neighborhoods, and wear down our streets 5 days of the week rather than once a week as in those other cities. 
On May 20, 2009 Kent City Council voted to introduce a new citywide trash service in Kent under contract with locally owned and operated R&R Sanitation Incorporated. 
