Dubuque Times

The Dubuque City Council discussed efforts to promote their new city trash supplies and program during a meeting held on April 17.

City officials ended their meeting by sharing a video from their "Delivering Dubuque" series, an ongoing YouTube series starring Mayor Brad Cavanagh promoting and explaining new investments and initiatives in Dubuque. The nine-minute-long video featured in the April 17 Council meeting explains the details of Dubuque's trash pickup program and the barrels that they will be giving to residents soon.

In the video, Cavanagh and Public Resource Management Supervisor Jake Jansen explained that the initiative is a part of Dubuque's efforts to improve the efficiency and safety of their trash pickup program.

"In last year's budget, the Dubuque City Council moved forward with a recommendation from our city staff to issue tipper carts to all of the city's solid waste customers," Cavanagh said.

"Honestly, safety is the number one reason why we’re making this transition," Jansen said. "We wanna do everything we can to protect our workers.” 

Dubuque will issue automatic tipper garbage carts to all curbside service residents who don't already have them, allowing the garbage fleet to use grabber arm trucks, which will improve safety and alleviate the physical toll on the garbage workers. The rolling carts will also be easier for residents, especially the elderly, to use to get to their pickup locations on the curb.

"You know, how the system has worked in the past is we expect our customers to bring the trash in their own personal can or just even place it at the curb," Jansen said. "And you know, when it's not contained in a cart it's really at risk for loose litter in our neighborhoods. And we want clean neighborhoods. We all do. And so we can keep those materials contained in a cart, we'll likely see a cleaner community." 

Cavanagh and Jansen also explained that they will begin the mass rollout and distribution service in April. Any customers currently paying the basic service rate will receive the standard 35-gallon cart. If residents want a larger cart, they can ask the City for a 48, 64, or 96-gallon cart. The pair warned residents that the process would take months to fully implement and meet the needs of all citizens, but reassured them that they would proceed diligently with the program in 2023.