Trash has become a popular topic of conversation in Gearhart. 

The city doesnt require property owners to sign up for regular trash pick up, but the City Council may have to reconsider that decision.

The problem weve run into is there are quite a few homes in Gearhart that are second homes or used as vacation rentals. Some people will take the trash home with them, and others will dump it in someone elses trash can, or in one of the dumpsters or in the downtown corridor, Gearhart Mayor Dianne Widdop said. And its just wrong, wrong, wrong.

For now, the city is taking a soft approach to encourage more residents to subscribe to regular collection. 

In June and July, letters were mailed to every residence in the city using water bills with information about various services offered by Western Oregon Waste, which provides most of the town with regular garbage collection. 

The letters were meant to bring awareness to property owners, said City Manager Chad Sweet. Some people didnt know about some of the other services provided by WOW.

The letter read, in part: Residents have brought issues to the Gearhart City Councilors regarding garbage in and around town. Issues (include) garbage being left curbside for a week, creating blowing garbage and animal problems. Some vacation homes do not use garbage service, so guests are forced to unfairly use other residents and municipal garbage containers.

Rather than mandating garbage service with a city ordinance, the council decided to take a more simple approach and notify you of the services available 

The letter goes on to say that city officials hope residents and property owners will not leave garbage receptacles unattended at the curb for multiple days and that residents will find an appropriate service.  Options like special pick-up, off-curb service and will-call services are explained in the letter. 

A lot of people dont even know that this is a service that is available, Widdop said. How nice it would be to not pass an ordinance saying it is mandatory that you will have your trash picked up – just let people do it on their own. So far, it seems to be working well.

Seaside, unlike Gearhart, requires its residents to have regular trash service. 

Sweet said he has not heard much response from the community since the letters were sent out, and he has not checked with WOW to see if there were new sign-ups.

With the idea of providing more convenience to residents and visitors, City Councilor Joy Sigler, who owns the Pacific Crest Cottage, brought up the idea of providing easy recycling access in the downtown corridor. Outside of her business she has placed cans for plastic, glass and metal. 

My feeling is I would rather to be a positive voice than just go straight to negative, Sigler said. I would like to see if people will respond appropriately. I think the time has come. People are so much more aware of the problems and issues.

Sigler said she has seen communities in other parts of the world and airports that have more advanced recycling receptacle systems. She said she would like to see the same thing happen in Gearhart. 

The city is also testing out having recycling receptacles in the downtown corridor, at the corner of Cottage Avenue and Pacific Way. Sweet said theyve been in place for about four weeks. City public works employees sort and empty the containers, and Western Oregon Waste disposes of the recycling. 

The program, Sweet said, has had mixed results. It will be evaluated soon.

Were going to give it a few more weeks and see how it goes and then consider putting in a more permanent solution, he said.

In addition to a fair amount of trash in the receptacles, a frequent problem has been people dumping plastic bags containing dog waste in the plastics receptacle. Sigler said she has had a similar problem and has written on the top of her receptacles with chalk that the cans are not for doggie bags.

I think signage is very, very important, she said. If theres appropriate signage, I think people will honor it. 

Widdop said the City Council and city administration would also be evaluating the effectiveness of the letters to the citys residents and homeowners with trash pickup options from WOW. 

Well be analyzing it at the end of the summer and asking people, how did you make out? Widdop said. Has the problem been lessened a bit, and if not, well address it.

I dont think the council is interested at this point in putting forward any new ordinances, Sweet said. Well see if it helps well keep an eye on the issue. Well hope that goes away with new information.