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Hundreds of commercial bins are now being distributed to commercial customers by Crown Disposal. Crown has taken over the residential and commercial services. According to Karen Sandvig, the transition for both residential and commercial services is “going really well.” |
Crown Disposal: Transition of service means change on many levels
July 06, 2011
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
There are plenty of changes in the works with the city refuse services by Crown Disposal Company, with new bins, optional sizing with related costs, and the opportunity to pay that monthly bill online.
Crown has taken over the residential and commercial services, the latter contracted out for years. According to Karen Sandvig, the transition for both residential and commercial services is “going really well,” with plenty of customer interface out of the North Mill Street office.
Residential customers will soon receive their first invoice from their new service provider: “The June invoice just went out and we extended the due date to July 31” to help accommodate service level changes. “People can expect to see the Crown bill in the mailbox” in coming days, with commercial customer billing starting mid-month.
Sandvig said Crown will notify customers by mail and advertisements well in advance of new pickup schedules, expected to launch September 1. With the new schedule comes the residential customer putting out all three carts - trash, yard waste and recyclables - each week. The city had a rotating every other week schedule for the yard waste and recyclables.
Residential customers have the new option of selecting cart size in 35-gallon, 65-gallon and 95-gallon sizes. In addition, they are billed on the refuse/trash bin size only, and can select any size recyclable carts they would like at no additional cost.
Crown’s 95-gallon cart fee is $24.69 a month; the medium 65-gallon service, considered standard by Crown, is $20.09 a month; and the extra-small 35-gallon service is $15.49 a month. Those residential customers 62 years or older will also receive a 15 percent discount. Sandvig said the company has about 400 senior customers already registered - those who get the discount must show a photo ID for proof of birth date.
Sandvig said all customers that returned their service preference postcards to request a smaller size refuse/trash bin will be contacted to confirm the request. “We went through all the post cards we received” and are calling those requesting smaller bins, but Sandvig said customers are being encouraged to keep the large 95-gallon sizes for green waste and recyclables.
“There’s no extra charge for the larger size recyclable bins.... And when it comes to the refuse cart for trash only, a household of two or less the 35-gallon cart is probably fine, three to four in household is the 65-gallon cart, and for larger households and those that generate more trash definitely should stay with the 95-gallon container.”
Crown personnel will be auditing bins randomly to ensure customers are not mixing trash with recyclables, which “contaminates” the load and decreases the city’s chances to comply with the state mandated minimums.
Crown will keep the display of trash bins outside the North Mill Street office for another four weeks, but encourages customers that want to change their service to do so as soon as possible.
Refuse collection is also seeing other changes: Crown Disposal will offer paperless billing - less going into that blue recyclable bin! - and an online bill pay option.
All in all, Sandvig said Crown - which hired the city’s displaced refuse department employees and is hiring more - is happy with the transition as well as its new customer base. “It’s very exciting,” she noted. “We just love being in Santa Paula!”
Questions can be directed to Crown Disposal, 933-0100, or visit the website, www.CrownDisposal.com.
