Mt. Lebanon is considering changing the way solid waste disposal will be handled for some commercial properties. Currently, owners of commercial establishments, including large apartment buildings and condominiums, are responsible for hiring and paying for their own refuse removal. The municipality plans to extend the responsibility for hiring and paying for trash collection to owners of smaller commercial buildings—in particular residential properties with more than three units. About 1,000 individual units will be affected by this change.

Assistant Manager Ian McMeans says the change is being proposed in order to standardize Mt. Lebanon’s refuse collection procedures with that of the other South Hills Area Council of Governments (SHACOG) communities with whom we jointly negotiate our refuse contract. The new procedures would be implemented in January 2019, when the next joint contract will go into effect.

Mt. Lebanon Commission plans to hear public comment and discuss this issue over the summer, with a vote on the plan scheduled for some time in late 2017. A public hearing will be held prior to the vote.

Public meetings for building owners affected by the proposed change will be held at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Wednesday, July 19, in the commission chamber of the municipal building, 710 Washington Road. A video of the discussion will be posted and archived the following day on the municipal website, www.mtlebanon.org. A list of Frequently Asked Questions, based in part on the dialogue from the July 19 meeting, also will be posted.