Grand Rapids photo of the trash "smart cart" that will allow customers to pay for each load of garbage hauled away.
GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) -- Leaders Tuesday will announce a change in how people in the city pay for their garbage pick-up.
For years the city has sold garbage bags and tags to pay for trash hauling, but leaders say the city can no longer afford this system.
Now Grand Rapids will offer three different sizes of "smart carts" at no cost. Customers will be charged each time workers haul away trash -- what officials call "pay as you throw."
Charges will be $2 to $6 per pick-up depending on the size of a customer's trash cart. Each cart will have a scannable computer chip to track the pick-ups.
Currently, 12,000 Grand Rapids garbage customers have carts and pay a quarterly fee for pick-up.