The city of St. Paul just made a $4 million commitment to organized trash collection, which is expected to get underway in October.

On Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council approved spending up to $4 million to buy new wheeled, lidded trash carts for virtually every house in the city. The amendment to the 2018 Recycling and Solid Waste Fund passed 6-0. Council Member Dai Thao was absent.

“We’re moving forward Oct. 1,” said Lisa Hiebert, a spokeswoman for St. Paul Public Works. “The brochure is at the printer right now, and residents will start getting it the week of May 7.”

Since the 1970s, homeowners have been expected to seek out and contract haulers on their own. That will soon change.

By a vote of 5-2, the city council last November agreed to enter into a trash hauling contract with St. Paul Haulers, LLC, a consortium composed of the city’s existing trash haulers, for organized, citywide residential trash collection. The city has spent months working out final details. Until now, an official roll-out date had yet to be announced.

Property owners will be expected to tell the city their new cart size and service level by June 1.

The carts will be delivered from mid-August to Sept. 30, around which time they’ll learn the identity of their new designated hauler and collection date. Related Articles St. Paul trash haulers get 60-day window to negotiate deal

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Homeowners will be expected to pay fees mandated by the city and cannot opt out of the service, which is expected to dramatically reduce the number of trash haulers on any given street.

An interactive map of collection routes will be made available by early August at stpaul.gov/garbage.