'Enormous' Savings From La Grange Trash Service

LA GRANGE, IL – La Grange residents have enjoyed "enormous" savings with their garbage service since the village changed companies five years ago, the village president said Monday.

The Village Board voted unanimously for a new five-year contract with Oakbrook Terrace-based Flood Brothers. Trustees Peggy Peterson and Glenn Thompson were absent.

The village did not go out to bid for the contract.

In 2020, La Grange replaced Phoenix-based Republic Services with Flood Brothers.

"Republic was charging more when their contract expired than Flood Brothers is charging today, five years later," Village President Mark Kuchler said.

In that time, inflation has gone up by 24 percent.

Kuchler also said Flood Brothers was helpful when people were at home throwing a lot of things away in the first days of the pandemic.

"They picked that all up without ever asking us for a surcharge, where it's my understanding that a lot of haulers were asking for surcharges," Kuchler said.

The agreement includes a "modest" 3 percent increase, which addresses labor costs for Teamsters drivers.

Here are the key points of the contract:

• Households without two-wheeled recycling carts will be given new 65-gallon recycling carts featuring labeling on acceptable and prohibited materials. Thirty-five-gallon containers will be available upon request.
• A universal service sticker will be introduced for simplicity of use by customers and to reduce the administrative burdens of maintaining separate sticker types. A single sticker will be used for all trash placed outside carts, yard waste and spring cleanup materials.
• The organics program enhancements include participants in the yard waste and food scrap program having access to 35-gallon organics carts with clear food scrap labeling. Year-round food scrap collection is expected to be further explored as the program develops.