Lafayette County is moving forward when it comes to garbage collecting.

The Board of Supervisors decided Monday to begin the process of obtaining roll out garbage containers that will be used for the new garbage trucks the county will be utilizing in about six months.

Solid Waste manager Kenneth Drewery told the board the containers should arrive within three to four months. Each household will receive one container that will include a chip device registered to that home. The chips do not have GPS for tracking them, but they will enable sanitation workers to know which container goes with which home, as well as know which households have paid their monthly garbage bill.

The county will purchase approximately 10,500 of the roll out containers at a cost of approximately $500,000, according to Drewery.

“The main thing right now is finding a place to store them,” Drewery told supervisors. Currently, the containers are expected to be stored at the industrial park while they are being distributed.

“We are trying to help with some of the litter and trash problems we have on the side of the road,” explained District 3 Supervisor Chad McLarty, who brought up the idea of the trash containers during budget hearings in July. “We felt like as a board, this would be a worthwhile venture that a lot of other counties are using. We hope it helps. Hopefully we can get some of these garbage bins off the side of the road. Some of them are long overdue.”

Two of the new garbage trucks the county ordered are expected to arrive in March. The trucks, which cost $250,000 apiece, will be operated by one person with a lift arm that will pick up the 65-gallon container and dispose of garbage into the truck. That will also free up more personnel for litter control.

While making garbage collection more efficient, county officials are also hoping to drive up revenue.

Currently, trash collection is charged to people when they purchase a vehicle tag in the county.

“We got landlords renting places to students with out-of-state tags,” Drewery told supervisors in July during budget hearings. “I really hate to think of how much money we’re not collecting.”

Fees will not increase this year, according to Board President Jeff Busby.

“Right now we are not going up on garbage fees at this time,” Busby said.