This item is associated with refuse collection. Under its contract with Waste Management, Brentwood presently provide residential refuse, recycling, and yard waste collection services. The Borough has the ability to add additional services that were included in the multi-municipal proposal that was tendered by this company. A household hazardous waste collection program is presently available at a flat monthly fee.

Historically, there was not a significant need for this service. Items that traditionally could not be placed in the trash, such as paint and pesticides, could alternatively be disposed of at an array of scheduled collection events. However, the 2010 Covered Device Recycling Act, which banned electronics from being mixed with regular refuse, altered this situation. Passed at a time where the perpetually shortening lifespans of electronics was drastically increasing the amount of this type of waste that entered landfills, the law did not provide any substitute method of disposal. For approximately the first five years after passage of this law, retailers such as Best Buy and Goodwill filled this service gap by collecting unwanted electronics for free, but such programs have almost universally ended due to rising disposal costs. The only lawful method by which Brentwood residents can presently rid themselves of televisions and computers is by using a private recycling company at the prohibitive price of $20-$50 per unit. 

The institution of this program would, by assessing a small cost to all residents, provide an affordable way for residents to remove these items from their homes. The service would additionally remove resident temptation to engage in illegal dumping, which has been an ongoing problem in the undeveloped Hollow at the end of Brentwood Avenue. 

In accordance with the current multi-municipal refuse agreement with Waste Management, as was negotiated by SHACOG, for 2019, the fee for household hazardous waste collection is 77 cents per household per month. 

Waste Management does not collect real time data on the number households that are charged by the Borough. Rather, it calculates its charges based upon a flat figure of 3445 households. This represents the number of one, two, and three family residential accounts that were active at the time that the contract commenced and varies slightly from the number of residence that actually invoiced by the Borough. Due to this flat fee, there is certainty as to the total cost that will be absorbed by the Borough for the August through December cycles. 

0.77/household X 3445 units = $2652.65/month

$2652.65 X 5 remaining months = $13,263.25 

Under the terms of the agreement, the cost to the Borough will increase by 2 cents per unit per year from 2021-23. However, beginning next year, the Borough can recover these fees by assessing a higher charge in its refuse bills. 

• Gives something back to the community during a particularly difficult time. 
• Allows residents to continue/complete the household cleaning projects that many have commenced during quarantine. 
• Prevents illegal dumping. 
• Preserves DPW resources by not requiring staff to remove electronics that are improperly placed at the curb by residents.