Syracuse residents can now buy a second trash cart from city if one isn't enough

Syracuse, N.Y. — If the 96-gallon trash cart Syracuse households received last year isn’t big enough, residents will soon be able to get a second container.

But unlike the first round of carts the city delivered to 32,400 properties, the second ones won’t be free. Residents will have to pay $75 to cover the cost of the additional can.

The Syracuse Common Council unanimously approved the second cart policy on Monday. Lawmakers had asked Mayor Ben Walsh’s administration to come up with a way to get residents a second cart after hearing from some large households that one wasn’t adequate.

While some lawmakers advocated for making second carts free, the administration said they needed to implement some type of charge in order to manage costs of the program. The city spends about $405 per cart annually to collect and dispose of garbage from a full 96-gallon container.

To have a second cart delivered, residents will need to submit a request in writing to the city. Details about where to send requests were still being finalized Monday.

In addition to the new second trash cart policy, councilors approved spending $2.8 million to purchase recycling carts that will be delivered to residents for free in the fall. The new recycling carts, which are also going to be 96 gallons and on wheels, will replaced the small blue bins issued by the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency, which has been phasing out its bins.

The recycling collection with the new carts will take place every other week instead of weekly, city officials said, because of an expected increase in how much residents recycle.

The changes in solid waste collection are part of a city effort to make streets cleaner while also cutting workers’ compensation costs because the carts can be emptied using auto-lift systems attached to the trucks.

City reporter Jeremy Boyer can be reached at jboyer@syracuse.com, (315) 657-5673, Twitter or Facebook.