Darien's New Garbage Deal Has A Catch, Officials Say

DARIEN, IL — Starting next spring, Darien residents are set to get garbage service for $20.95 a month, with unlimited pickup of garbage, yard waste and recycling.

But there's a catch — no more stickers for small-volume users.

On Monday, the City Council voted unanimously to go with a new garbage hauler, Morton Grove-based LRS, which provided the lowest bids. For the $20.95, a resident can get either a 65- or 95-gallon rollout cart. The price for residents 65 and over would be $10 for a smaller 35-gallon cart.

During public input, two residents spoke up for keeping stickers, saying they produce little garbage and would end up paying more. Rather than paying a fixed monthly fee, they pay for a sticker for each container they put out.

The city received bids from LRS, Groot and its current hauler, Waste Management.

All three were asked to provide the price for the sticker option. In all three cases, sticker prices would have risen substantially.

But the sticker option would have meant greater costs for all users. With LRS, for instance, cart users would not get unlimited garbage pickup if stickers could still be used. Also, cart users would have to pay a separate charge for yard waste.

"The cart probably satisfies more than 80 percent of the community with one price of $20 for waste, recycling and yard waste," said Josh Connell, a managing partner of LRS. "But obviously those that don't produce much are going to pay more."

But he said it wouldn't have been much more. A sticker user would pay nearly $19 throwing out trash three times a month.

"There's always going to be someone affected negatively by it," Connell said.

Mayor Joseph Marchese agreed.

"When you make decisions, you sometimes don't make everybody happy," he said. "You try to do what is best for the majority of people. That's a difficult decision to make sometimes."

Aldermen generally agreed to have the city pick up the 30 cent-a-month cost per customer for the collection of electronic waste, which was estimated to cost $24,000 to $28,000 a year.

Officials said the city received good references for LRS.

Waste Management's contract expires March 30, 2022.