Trash & Recycling
Our provider is Waste Management (WM)
- Pine Creek's pick-up date is Monday (unless it is a holiday - and then it is Tuesday). See schedule below or the www.pcva.org event calendar.
- Please have your containers ready and at the curb by 6:00am (no earlier than 6pm the night prior). Please store them by 8pm on service day.
- Garbage service window is from 7am to 7pm - please ensure your bins are left out until pickup is complete.
- Please remember to position your cart four feet from any other objects, including fences, mailboxes, parked vehicles and other carts, so that Waste Management can service it safely. Be aware of overhead tree branches that may interfere with the truck's lifting arm.
- All trash and recycle containers shall be covered with a lid to avoid trash being blown from the container before pick up.
- Recycling pickup is every other week and is single-stream recycling (no sorting, all recyclables in one container)
- Visit their website at www.wm.com "my account" for an overview
- Waste Management Observes the following holidays. New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. If these days fall on a Monday, PCVA's regular service day, pick-up will be moved to Tuesday. Watch the pcva.org event calendar for reminders.
- Check on service alerts at https://www.wm.com/weather-alert/index.jsp
- Service/Weather Delay
- If your individual cart/address is missed on your regular collection day, please call Waste Managment (303) 797-1600 to report the missed pickup. They typically return within 24-48 hours so be sure to put your cart out the following business days from 7am to 7pm for service.
- In the event Waste Management is unable to service the community on the regular service day, such as with a weather delay, it is their goal to recover as soon as possible, weather & safety permitting. Often they are able to return within a few days. Please be sure to continue to put carts out the following days from 7am to 7pm until their return.
- Automated Delay Alerts. If you would like to add your contact information (landline phone number and/or email address) so you will receive a notification of the delay via their automated system, may add your contact information by calling Customer Service at (303) 797-1600. Having contact information on file will ensure that delay information is communicated in a timely manner.
- Container problems. If you need to turn in a WM container you no longer need, or need a container repaired (i.e. broken lid), please contact WM Customer Service at 303-797-1600. Let them know you are a PCVA HOA customer/resident. With your address, they will be able to rectify the issue.
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Why have PCVA’s trash and recycling costs increased since 2019?
March 20, 2020
China notified the World Trade Organization a year ago of its intent to ban the import of 24 materials, including mixed waste paper and mixed plastics. While the news was met with skepticism at the time, over the past year China followed through with the ban, and the Chinese government implemented additional restrictions including announcing a ban on all recyclables by 2020.
Impacted by basic supply and demand economic principles, recycling commodity markets plummeted due to the global over-supply of recyclables and simultaneous reduced demand, driven by China’s restrictive import policies. These policies are creating challenges for recyclers and cities:
• China’s 0.5% contamination limit elevated quality expectations for all buyers across the globe. It also increased recycling processing costs in Material Recovery Facilities (MRF’s) as recyclers work to remove non-acceptable items.
• Recyclers have a hard time selling paper and plastics and many are carrying large inventories.
• MRF residual rates continue to increase due to the amount of non-recyclable materials from curbside programs. • In short, these factors contribute to increasing the cost of community recycling programs.
In order to curb the effect of the waste management industry, Waste Management in July 2019 began charging a variable “Recyclable Material Offset” (RMO) fee to the Association based on the ability (or inability) to sell the recyclable material that it collected. The PCVA Board of Directors challenged the RMO fees and were able to negotiate a new contract with a cap on the combined trash and recycling costs for the future, and to also delay the RMO fees until 2020. The RMO fee can vary up to $2.50 per home per month, and if the RMO fee exceeds this cap, then Waste Management will lower PCVA’s trash cost down to compensate for the expense. The Board did consider discontinuing the recycling service, however, the trash rates would have been raised significantly more than the association is paying now. Because of the Board’s successful negotiation, PCVA’s total trash removal costs are still quite low in the even with the variable RMO fee.
Recycling has weathered difficult times before. Although this situation is different since it stems from Chinese policy changes changing global market dynamics rather than economic supply and demand trends, our waste management partners expect markets will eventually recover, albeit, the industry will likely look very different. Now more than ever it is imperative to collect materials with long-term market viability: cardboard, paper, aluminum, tin and plastic bottles (water/soda bottles and milk/juice jugs).
What can Pine Creek homeowners do to help the situation?
Keep recycling the right things! A quote in a recent article notes that we should “keep calm and recycle.” Recycling will survive this crisis. It will evolve and may look different in a few years, but recycling will continue. The best thing we can all do is to evaluate and adapt our programs for today’s environment:
• Review your acceptable items list. Does it include only those materials with viable recycling end markets? Are you emphasizing the three rules of Recycle Often. Recycle Right.®? Are you focusing on recycling all your empty plastic bottles, aluminum cans, paper and cardboard?
• Review informative recycling education materials to recycle right. Visit Recycle Often. Recycle Right.com to see all the recycling education resources for residents, businesses, municipalities, multi-family complexes and more.
March 20, 2020
China notified the World Trade Organization a year ago of its intent to ban the import of 24 materials, including mixed waste paper and mixed plastics. While the news was met with skepticism at the time, over the past year China followed through with the ban, and the Chinese government implemented additional restrictions including announcing a ban on all recyclables by 2020.
Impacted by basic supply and demand economic principles, recycling commodity markets plummeted due to the global over-supply of recyclables and simultaneous reduced demand, driven by China’s restrictive import policies. These policies are creating challenges for recyclers and cities:
• China’s 0.5% contamination limit elevated quality expectations for all buyers across the globe. It also increased recycling processing costs in Material Recovery Facilities (MRF’s) as recyclers work to remove non-acceptable items.
• Recyclers have a hard time selling paper and plastics and many are carrying large inventories.
• MRF residual rates continue to increase due to the amount of non-recyclable materials from curbside programs. • In short, these factors contribute to increasing the cost of community recycling programs.
In order to curb the effect of the waste management industry, Waste Management in July 2019 began charging a variable “Recyclable Material Offset” (RMO) fee to the Association based on the ability (or inability) to sell the recyclable material that it collected. The PCVA Board of Directors challenged the RMO fees and were able to negotiate a new contract with a cap on the combined trash and recycling costs for the future, and to also delay the RMO fees until 2020. The RMO fee can vary up to $2.50 per home per month, and if the RMO fee exceeds this cap, then Waste Management will lower PCVA’s trash cost down to compensate for the expense. The Board did consider discontinuing the recycling service, however, the trash rates would have been raised significantly more than the association is paying now. Because of the Board’s successful negotiation, PCVA’s total trash removal costs are still quite low in the even with the variable RMO fee.
Recycling has weathered difficult times before. Although this situation is different since it stems from Chinese policy changes changing global market dynamics rather than economic supply and demand trends, our waste management partners expect markets will eventually recover, albeit, the industry will likely look very different. Now more than ever it is imperative to collect materials with long-term market viability: cardboard, paper, aluminum, tin and plastic bottles (water/soda bottles and milk/juice jugs).
What can Pine Creek homeowners do to help the situation?
Keep recycling the right things! A quote in a recent article notes that we should “keep calm and recycle.” Recycling will survive this crisis. It will evolve and may look different in a few years, but recycling will continue. The best thing we can all do is to evaluate and adapt our programs for today’s environment:
• Review your acceptable items list. Does it include only those materials with viable recycling end markets? Are you emphasizing the three rules of Recycle Often. Recycle Right.®? Are you focusing on recycling all your empty plastic bottles, aluminum cans, paper and cardboard?
• Review informative recycling education materials to recycle right. Visit Recycle Often. Recycle Right.com to see all the recycling education resources for residents, businesses, municipalities, multi-family complexes and more.