The Columbia City Council voted on April 4 to send the option of repealing the city's ban on rolling trash carts to a public vote on Aug. 2. 

The council vote was the result of a citizen-led petition that sought to either remove the city's ban language or send the issue back to voters. 

Here's what to know about how the city's trash collection service currently works, why the roll cart ban was put in place in 2016, and why it's been a source of contention and controversy. 

Trash collection in Columbia is handled by the city's solid waste division. 

On Feb. 1, 2021, the city switched to a "pay-as-you-throw" system to encourage conservation and improve working conditions for staff. Under this system, residents place their waste at the curb using city-provided black trash bags and blue recycling bags with a City of Columbia logo. The city contracts with Waste Zero to supply the bags.

Residents are provided vouchers for 104 trash bags per year. If needed, they can purchase additional trash bags in rolls of five for $10, while additional recycling bags are free. Materials not placed in official city bags are not picked up. 

Six months after the new system was launched, feedback from residents included concerns related to bag size, with some thinking they are too large and others too small; bag costs, with some unable to afford the $2 charge for additional bags; lost or never-received bag vouchers; as well as requests for the city to again adopt roll carts. 

Trash collection has been a hot-button issue within the city both before and after roll carts were banned in 2016, spawning the organization of several citizen groups and countless debates on social media. 

A citizen group called the Solid Waste Advocacy Group, or SWAG, formed in 2012 in support of keeping the black bag system after city staff made a presentation in favor of roll carts.

In 2015, city officials held a series of forums to discuss a proposed hybrid system of roll carts and bag collection. SWAG then submitted an initiative petition that aimed to ban the city’s ability to use carts.

In January 2016, the Committee for Roll Cart Choice organized to fight the proposed ban.

Columbia residents voted in favor of banning roll carts in March 2016, with a 54% majority vote. 

Among the reasons cited for the ban were the unsightliness of carts sitting on the street between collections, the cost of the city buying the carts and the lack of a garage or other space at some residences to store them.

In July and August 2020, the city council voted for, then later scuttled, a plan to put the carts back on the ballot. 

In April 2021, protesters from a group called Columbia MO Citizens For Roll Carts stood outside City Hall collecting signatures for a roll cart initiative during the council's closed pre-council session.

Here are some of the complaints about the current trash-collection system:

Faced with shortages of sanitation workers, the city has explored options including privatizing trash collection and bringing back roll carts so that trash pickup can be automated.

This would mean fewer jobs in the solid waste department, though the city has struggled to keep those positions filled. 

Previous Columbia Tribune reporting was used for this report.