Dive Brief:
- Fort Collins, CO city staff members will not present city council with a proposal that would have allowed trash haulers to charge a temporary fee to offset the cost of handling recyclables. The ordinance now requires haulers to provide single-stream recycling to residences at no additional cost.
- Gallegos Sanitation Inc. (GSI) had requested the fee because of the mounting cost of handling glass, paper, and cardboard.
- Since January, the Larimer County Recycling Center has charged haulers to drop materials. In July, the charge was $27 per ton.
Dive Insight:
Big companies across the country, such as Casella, are adjusting their pricing based on similar issues surrounding the price of recycling. Recently, Waste Management CEO David Steiner called recycling "a nationwide crisis."
Others say money can be made without increasing fees.
In Fort Collins, city officials are examining the "pay-as-you-throw" structure that charges consumers based on the size of trash containers. Environmental planner Caroline Mitchell said the council is expected to consider changes to its ordinance this fall that might take into account the costs to haulers.
Ram Waste and Waste Management, which also serve the city, are not seeking changes to the ordinance before the council reviews it and public comment is heard.
Kari Gallegos-Doering, special projects manager for GSI, said the company has experienced a "significant financial loss" during the last seven months because of the cost of recycling, and there’s a "good possibility" the company will have to change its rates. "We can’t hang on like this too much longer," she said.
