Kent City Council fixes redundancy in recycling ordinance

By Eric Weaver and Philip de Oliveira

Kent City Council amended city recycling ordinances last Wednesday to reduce fees for multi-tenant properties.

The amendment, which adds to Chapter 935 of the Kent Codified Ordinances, removes a billing redundancy. Previously, multi-tenant buildings had been charged for individual tenant recycling bins as well as dumpsters for the whole property. In effect, said Ward 6 Councilman Tracy Wallach, landlords were getting billed twice.

“They had units in their apartments, and then they had dumpsters that they put them in. And now they’re just going to have dumpsters,” said Wallach.

Melanie Baker, Kent City Public Service Director, said, “We’ll be working with Portage County to make sure that they get the correct-size dumpster for each multi-family tenant.”

Once the proper containers are in place, the recycling fees will be adjusted accordingly.

“[The fees] will be based on the dumpster size. If there’s a multi-family tenant of four or more in a house, they can opt—instead of having a small dumpster—to use the 95-gallon totes,” said Baker.

The ordinance defines a multi-family residence (such as apartments) as any group of three or more units under a single roof with a common hallway or entrance. Residential units, such as duplexes, triplexes, and quadruplexes, have a separate, street-accessible entrance for each billed unit.

According to City Manager Dave Ruller’s blog, recycling fees help the City of Kent pay for seasonal pickup of brush, leaves, and trees, as well as dump trucks, equipment, and weekly litter cleanup in downtown Kent.

The City of Kent has had a recycling program since 1992. The amended ordinance will be effective on May 1, 2017.