BUTTE – Uptown Butte’s trash cans are too old and undersized.
“At times they get overflowing and it is a nuisance and it is a problem,” said Butte’s Director of Community Development Karen Byrnes.
First installed by the city in the 1980s to help control litter, the cans can’t handle the pressure of Butte’s summer festival season.
“They’ve lasted well, they’re stout, they do serve a great purpose. They’re just undersized for our community right now,’ said Byrnes.
The city is considering replacing them with large and more practical receptacles.
“The ultimate goal is to have a can that could be emptied automatically by truck. That was placed on or near the sidewalk, the truck could come by and pick up,” said Byrnes.
One issue the city is having with these receptacles is that it’s not a generic design, so when they have to replace these plastic liners, they have to special order them just so they’ll fit.
“The new installations will be of a standard size and model of liner, so we can just easily get them, that’s not a special order type situation,” said Byrnes.
The city has no cost estimate yet on what it will cost to replace the trash cans.
