Roanoke County residents will have expanded trash collection services, as well as a couple of new restrictions, under a plan likely to receive final approval on Oct. 14 by the board of supervisors.

General Services Director Anne Marie Green, whose department includes solid waste management, has proposed altering some trash collection rules to "reflect the changing dynamics of Roanoke County."

The county is one of only a few in Virginia that provide free curbside trash collection to all its residents, Green told the board recently.

The county is becoming increasingly urban: Although only 23 percent of the county's land area is designated urban by the Virginia Department of Transportation, more than 80 percent of its population lives in those neighborhoods. And many of those residents are expressing "more concerns about cleanliness, more requests for recycling" and asking for the collection of more and bigger items, Green said.

The changes range from a provision to pick up small amounts of construction waste from homeowners' do-it-yourself projects, to a requirement that all trash be bagged before it is placed in the county-provided containers used for regular collection.

Green told the board recently that because the county now has a truck known as a Knuckleboom, which has an automated crane with jaws to pick up heavy loads, "small quantities of building materials are not a problem for us."

In fact, she said, although the county code currently excludes such materials from pickup, they are already being collected when possible.

The new rules would limit the length of wood or pipe in such waste to 3 feet. It also provides that, "No individual piece or container may weigh more than 50 pounds," and "No more than a pickup truck load will be collected at any one time."

Material from contracted work will not be collected, and the waste may not include rocks, dirt or concrete.

Latex paint that is completely dried will also be collected.

The new provisions double the size of tree limbs than can be collected to 6 feet in length and 12 inches in diameter. They also allow collection of stumps placed at the curb, so long as they are "less than 1 foot in width" and "free of all dirt, grass, clumps, etc."

All brush must be within 5 feet of the curb.

The new rules will place some new restrictions on the use of the county-owned refuse containers.

Residents will be required to bag all materials -- no more than 30 pounds in a bag -- before putting them in the containers. The idea is to reduce complaints from neighbors about loose trash that escapes when the containers are lifted and dumped into the garbage trucks.

Bagged trash is also easier to collect by hand if crews have to respond to a complaint of missed collection, Green said.

Another common complaint the county receives is about residents leaving those trash containers at the curb or in the street. The new regulations require moving cans at least 10 feet back from the curb within a day of collection. That is currently required only in certain residential neighborhoods.

Finally, two changes affect the cans themselves and will help the county recover some of the $78,000 to $80,000 it spends each year on containers.

One would require any family that thinks it needs a second container to pay for it -- $68.25. Now, the county provides a second can free to families of six or more.

A second would codify existing policy that anyone who burns a trash can -- generally from placing hot coals or ashes in it -- has to pay for the replacement.

"I believe what we're doing here is providing some continuity, some consistency," Catawba District Supervisor Butch Church said at the Sept. 23 board meeting. "I think this is very positive."

Green, with a grin, noted that the new rules still don't address one problem: "I wish bears could be prevented from opening trash cans."

The Oct. 14 supervisors meeting will get under way at 7 p.m. in the county administration center on Bernard Road.