Harter’s Disposal added as residential trash hauler in Byron

Following the merger between Hometown Haulers and Waste Management, the Byron City Council issued its third license for trash hauling during its May 14 meeting.
“With official notification that Hometown Haulers will no longer serve Byron in the capacity
which their license was issued, there is a 3rd license available for residential refuse hauling,” City Administrator Al Roder wrote in a memo to the City Council.
According to Roder two businesses applied to be a residential hauler in the city; Aspen Waste Systems of Minnesota, Inc. and Harter’s Disposal of Minnesota, who ultimately got the approval by the city.
“We are a customer service oriented, family-owned, local company that has been hauling trash and recycling for five generations,” Mathias Harter, the vice president of the company, wrote in a letter to the City Council. “Harter’s currently provides garbage and recycling services to over 150 communities throughout the state of Minnesota and Wisconsin. We service the City of Rochester, the City of Stewartville, the City of Austin, and many other communities in the area.”
In addition the city’s residential trash haulers include Waste Management and LRS.
Unlike some communities which don’t offer any choices for households, Roder said Byron has historically taken a different approach.
“A lot of communities have a contract for service whatever that is and they only have one hauler…Byron historically has said we don’t want to be that limiting we want to give our residents a choice,” Roder said during a phone interview following the meeting.
Roder said the idea of limiting the amount of licenses is to have fewer trucks on residential roads.
“We’re just trying to protect our infrastructure. The goal of the limited licenses is to keep trucks off the residential streets… some people agree with that strategy, some disagree with it,” he said.
But for now Roder said his responsibility is to enforce the current ordinance.
“We only allow three residential haulers in town for licenses,” he said.
In a Facebook post, the city reminded its residents to place their trash and recycle cans on the curb or in driveways and “not the street on pick-up day so city plows and sweepers have access to the entire roadway.”