The TARE board is opening its invitation for bids on curbside collection of green waste.
Chairman Paul White said even with green waste collections up, Tulsans have been voting with their dollars.
"I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that we removed the requirements to add a special priced tag to that," White said. "So, when there's no cost associated with something, of course people are going to — your demand curve is going to be a little steeper."
Green waste task force chair Karen Gilbert said surveys show Tulsans want to compost or mulch their leaves and grass clippings, not send them to the incinerator.
One piece of information that's missing in all this is how much picking up leaves and grass clippings at the curb costs now. Gilbert asked for that figure in a city council committee meeting today.
White said workers doing the job now are likely to bid on it, so releasing the numbers would "give anyone else who chooses to submit a bid a competitive advantage, and they're trying to make sure that this is as fair a process as possible."
White and the TARE board are moving ahead with a plan to burn green waste. The green waste task force recommended a mulching or composting program, and the city recently purchased a new green waste site.
