Trash Cans, Automated Collection Coming To Cleveland Heights

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — Cleveland Heights will automate refuse collection in 2021, allowing residents to use trash cans.

Currently, Cleveland Heights residents must put bagged trash and recycling on the curb during their assigned collection day. Residents have long complained this process has led to loose trash drifting through the city and increased wild animal problems.

After the Refuse and Recycling Taskforce, composed of residents, recommended migrating to automated trash collection and the use of bins, city officials announced it was time for a change.

City officials anticipate moving to automated trash collection in the fall. While the migration may help clean up the city, the transition will increase Heights residents' sanitation fees and see four service department positions eliminated.

T"he City will need four fewer people with the automation. Any adjustments to needed staff will happen through attrition and/or reassignment to other divisions," a city official told Patch.

Residents sanitation fees will increase from $11.50 per month to $16.17 per month during the first year of automated collection.

Residents who qualify for the homestead exemption will see an increase to $7.67 in 2021.

City officials said more information on the changes, including trash collection schedules and cart distribution, will be released in coming months.