help turning off my trash

Well Its 2011 and we are all set up to recycle and compost. So i called the city to turn off my trash service. I was told that if i don't buy trash pick up i could not have water. Any lawyers around with suggestions.

Sounds like you are going one step further this year than you thought, collecting your own drinking and bathing water!

Good luck, its amazing how the trash and water benefits from the city are one benefit/service. It's almost hard to believe that they aren't seperate.

Seeing as there is no central well in town .  Seems to me my inalienable rights are being trampled . Normally i would have just paid it. In short I need the money 23.60 is a week of food for 3 .  I could cut my internet but i use that .

Good luck, it is usually a bit of a struggle. I did hear of one case a few decades ago (in Mother Earth News, I think) where a person was able to avoid the fees after showing that they recycled/composted 100% of their wastes.

Here, unless one has a separate water line and meter for irrigation, the sewage bill is an exact multiple of water use ... the assumption is that every gallon of water pulled from the tap ends up in the sanitary sewer. That kind of linkage is almost logical (though it prevents rational use of grey water).

Start with a humble attitude at the city council. Try to get one or more of the council members to relate to your situation and try to get them working on your side of the problem and solution. Have a plan of action as to why you don't need trash service and how you will deal with your trash.

The time for lawyer is when you can get no where with the city law makers.

Seems like there must be some provision for financial hardship.  If you need the money for food you're clearly experiencing hardship.

well i guess its my pride in the way , Instead of just eliminating unused services I have to admit im poor. Which could be true i only may 11xxx last year but i don't feel poor. I'm just really good and using money. So we are all fat and happy 

dunno about over there but here trash collection is allpart and parcel of the rates/fees your local gov' charge for providing such services to the community that you are a part of.

so until for us they bring in user pay that is if they empty a bin then you pay, we recycle all scrappy bits of paper including nose tissues, and all food scraps into our garden, this means even with the small bin they provide we could save up to 2/3 of our collections, but as there is no incentive to not put the bin out we use the weekly collection.

now having said all that if the truck is driving by as no other neighbours are managing their scarp material what is saved if he does not stop here? nothing i would suggest. but if they bring it to a personal level ie.,. user pay then that is saving us money at least.

like we have a substantial water tank for rain water and could be all but totally self sufficient in water but you can't have them cut the wate off but we can turn their water off that makes a big difference to the bill because water is a user pay service.

so for you get into good management practise with your scrap and water use.

len

My parents do not have trash service, and they live in a regular suburban neighborhood.  They do generate some trash (e.g. plastic packaging) which they take to the transfer station themselves whenever their can gets full (once a month or so).  I would guess there are people like that in your community already.

I bet if you did that once or twice, and showed your transfer station receipts to the city, they would make an exception for you.  If not, write a letter to the editor and get other people to help you pressure the city to change.

That's what we do, adunca.  Even though our rural road has trash collection, we don't generate enough trash to justify the expense of the service, we just take it to the transfer station once a month or less. 

carbonout, don't feel bad about admitting you don't make much money. I don't make much either!  Looks like you might be officially below the "poverty line" for income.  This doesn't mean you're "poor" but it might mean you can't afford extraneous services you don't need.  Folks should be allowed to live a frugal existence.  Seems like there should be a waiver for the collection service if you aren't using it but can prove you're being responsible with your trash.

thank God for private wells..

we share trash service with our son as we don't have much that isn't burnable in our wood furnace or recycleable..or compostable..but we do occasionally have some..so it pays to share

You're not the only one. We're self sufficient in water, but we cannot turn off council water as they tell that they must maintain the net and if we would turn off and the house would be hooked on once again they would have maintained the net all that time without paying.
It depends where you live if the air is clean and you have enough space and it is not too cold then you would easily put in a tank. If it's very cold you would have to dig it into the soil or put it in the basement.

we pay for the network a seperate charge, then you get to pay for the water you use, we can only affect how much we pay for water use.

len

OH what bullshit.  I feel for you, carbonout.  Seems like some gov't always wants to have a hand in your pocket some way.
Obviously there is no independent trash service there or they couldn't enforce the water/trash system they have.  And if you're hooked up to sewer lines, you're going to have to have 'their' water, too. 
I agree with ronie, go into their office, council meetings, everywhere, with the humble and ultra polite attitude.  Then go to the local newpaper, etc etc.
We too, have what we need with little money.  It's all about what you want out of life, huh.  We are the last holdouts in this area, and I flat refuse to pay $13K to hook up to rural water, then pay $35 a month in fees before I use a drop of it.  Ditto for $20 a month for trash service.  We recycle, compost and burn.  Since I make everything I can from scratch, it'd take a year to fill a dumpster.