Wednesday and my yard waste roll off is full. River City charges me $36 annually to pick up my organic debris and truck it off to be turned into compost. Save any week that has a holiday in it, that is. Like this week.

Collecting from the green bins gets dumped from the schedule on holiday weeks.

Once upon a time green bins were collected at no cost to residents. The combined refuse went to the big composting facility west of town, and a couple of times each year residents could drive out and cart off all the free compost they could haul away. More often than not, demand far exceeded supply. If you didn't go early, you stood a good chance of sitting in line in your pickup truck all Saturday morning for nada, zip, nothing.

Now the green bin is $3 each month on your water bill, and you still can go get the compost for free with a recent water bill stub. Quite a few River City residents turned in their bins when the city went to charging to play in the program.

Overall, I think the program merits participation. This part of the city's sanitation operation diverts a significant stream of refuse away from the landfill, recycling it into compost for use in city parks as well as by participating residents. But is it fair for the city to charge me to provide the raw materials to make its compost, particularly when I do not have a pickup truck to collect my "share" of the product?