Sales of green waste stickers have picked up with the onset of spring. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World
QuikTrip has bought about $21,500 worth of the city's green waste stickers since Feb. 1 as demand for the city's curbside yard-waste program grows by the day, trash organizers said.
City spokeswoman Liz Hunt said the stores have been replenished weekly since the end of the program's "trial period" two months ago, when the city began requiring residents to buy the 50 cent stickers from QuikTrip for any bags or bundles of yard waste.
"We're now in sort of the prime season for yard waste disposal, so they are flying off the shelves," Hunt said. "We are, on a weekly basis, going out to QuikTrip stores across the metro area to deliver stickers."
QuikTrip purchased an initial supply of about $41,000 in stickers after the curbside trash and recycling program began Oct. 1, or an average of 300 sheets of five stickers for each of the chain's about 65 Tulsa-area stores, Hunt previously reported.
The tab has increased to about $62,500 as of this week, with about a dozen stores being replenished weekly, she said. The new shipments vary between 100 and 400 stickers.
"Since spring break, it's been a pretty robust sale," Hunt said. "It's spring cleaning. The weather's nice."
QuikTrip sells the stickers at cost.
The city has also begun offering the stickers at City Hall, 175 E. Second St., as a matter of convenience for customers, Hunt said.
The city's initial stockpile of the stickers is expected to last through the year, she said.
Curbside trash and recycling service is contracted to an independent hauler, but the city opted to use its own crews for yard waste because it was unsure how much yard waste would be collected and how much money to pay a hauler for the service.
The stickers were intended to offset some of the cost via a pay-as-you-go system and act as a measuring tool for eventually contracting out the service, if determined necessary. Officials say the data will be useful for the city in any case.
"We're only a couple months into it, so we're looking forward to getting the season under our belt and really looking forward to seeing the entire annual cycle," Hunt said.
The city's trash board waived the sticker requirement in November, December and January. The stickers now must be affixed on clear bags or bundles of yard waste no larger than 4 feet by 2 feet.
Yard waste bags affixed with an orange "extra refuse" sticker will not be picked up. Those stickers are intended for bags of garbage that cannot fit in a trash cart.
Tulsa residents can also take yard waste at no cost to the Green Waste Facility at 10401 E. 56th St. North between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. seven days a week. A driver's license with a Tulsa address is required.
Top sellers
Top-selling QuikTrips for green waste stickers*
10028 S. Memorial Drive: 11,000
3606 S. Peoria Ave.: 9,000
9037 S. Yale Ave.: 8,500
*Total individual stickers sold. Stickers come in sheets of five.
Source: City of Tulsa
Zack Stoycoff 918-581-8486
zack.stoycoff@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Sticker 'em up for curbside pick-up
Learn more
Read about the city’s trash system
and find a map of collection
schedules.
Trash
Approaching the one-year anniversary of Tulsa’s curbside recycling program, city officials say they are pleased with how residents have embraced the program even though they acknowledge that things haven’t always gone as planned.
Experts say cities nationwide have found simple and environmentally friendly ways to dispose of yard waste, but few of them would be practical in Tulsa, the city's trash operators say.
