When he ran for Sylvania Township trustee in 2009, Kevin Haddad made townshipwide collection of trash and recyclables a cornerstone of his campaign.

But as debate came to a head on the subject last week, with a trash-collection firm's price to provide such a service due to expire, Mr. Haddad promised to never revisit the subject if his colleagues on the township board voted it down.

Trustees John Jennewine and Neal Mahoney soon tested that promise by forming the 2-1 majority against the idea.

"While as a board, it is our duty to be willing to be open to new ideas, I have heard a lot of opposition to this," Mr. Jennewine, the board's chairman, said to preface his vote.

"I'm not going to bring it back up again," Mr. Haddad vowed afterward, while questioning whether his two colleagues were truly open to the idea.

Previous township boards rejected townshipwide trash collection, but Mr. Haddad said he revived the idea because he had become weary of being awakened most mornings by garbage trucks on township roads and of having to cart his own recyclables to drop-off stations.

He also argued that having one firm serve most, if not all, township residences would introduce rate-saving efficiencies and reduce truck damage to township roads.

The township invited bids last summer and received two, from Allied Waste Services and Waste Management Inc.

The latter firm subsequently withdrew, and Allied agreed to offer the service on an "opt-in" basis, rather than "opt-out," obligating those who wanted it to sign up.

The trustees voted after several people in the board-meeting audience last week decried the plan as an infringement of their freedom to choose their own refuse collector.

"We know how to blow our own noses and wipe them," said Daniel Zimmerman, of Whiteford Road, who added later that many choose to live in a township "because a lesser government is a better government."

"This is a system that works, a system that has competition," said Doug Beat, who professed being "a little tired of having to come and defend my rights" against recurring proposals for townshipwide trash collection.

Even a government designation of a specific day during the week for trash collection by private haulers would be a wrongful "restriction of commerce," Mr. Beat said.

Of 21 people who raised their hands when the trustees asked how many were in attendance to hear about trash collection, only one also responded to a show of hands supporting the concept.

Mr. Haddad said a favorable vote from the township board wouldn't obligate anyone, because Allied Waste would then become obligated to sell its service to at least 95 percent of township households, a threshold the contractor said would have to be met to make its proposed rate sustainable.

If the goal weren't met, Mr. Haddad said, "I won't bring up garbage and recycling again." He later pledged to end his own pursuit of the issue after the trustees' vote.

Mr. Jennewine, who during a previous meeting's discussion had questioned taking action on townshipwide collection when Lucas County is developing its own plan for garbage pickup throughout the county's unincorporated areas, said he doubled Allied Waste's sign-up goal could be met.

"I pretty much guarantee you that there are more than 5 percent who don't use a hauler," Mr. Jennewine said.

Sending out sign-up sheets across the township, then withdrawing the offer if the goal were missed, would antagonize those who want the service, he said.

Mr. Mahoney, who didn't speak during the debate, said afterward that he, too, was motivated by negative reaction among residents he had spoken with.

Paul Rasmussen, sales manager for Allied Waste, said he spoke afterward with an opponent of townshipwide collection who turned out to be one of his regular customers.

He said the man told him he had no complaints about Allied's service but was philosophically opposed to township involvement.

"I heard a lot of good things about our service," the sales manager said.

Allied will study whether it might be able to offer group rates on its own if sufficient numbers of township residents are willing to sign up, he said.

First Published March 23, 2011, 4:15 a.m.