I just checked out the presentation on solid waste disposal for the Villages and have to say it is an extremely flawed and misleading study. The data used simply does not reflect reality. The study shows that the Villages has a lower annual trash removal cost per household than the national average and much lower than several major urban areas. I certainly hope so given the following facts that were omitted from the study. 1) A very large percentage of Villages home owners are not using their homes (and producing zero trash) for a very large part of the year, despite paying for trash removal year round, 2) The average household size in the country is over 3 people per home (and more in many urban areas) while most homes in the Villages have two (and many only one) resident(s), 3) In most cases, seniors (The Villages population) produce less trash than the typical younger person (seniors eat out more and eat less in general).
What a household pays per year for trash pick up is not the relevant statistic, what matters is what each household pays per year in relation to the amount of trash that is taken away! It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the average annual trash pick up cost for a Villager should be way below the national average, because the average Villager produces much less trash! The only two things a logical person can take away from the study is 1) The data does not show one way or another if Villagers are getting a good rate for trash pick up, based on the the volume of trash they produce, and 2) Full time residents are clearly getting their trash rates subisdized by the part time residents who pay for trash pick up year round (yes, the same snow birds the full time residents love to complain about).
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