An additional 8.2 percent rate increase would take effect in 2012 under the proposed ordinance.
Recycling success comes at a price. Programs started by the county and its private hauler that reduce the waste sent to landfills also cut into the revenue needed to run the county’s trash-disposal operations – money that is raised through tipping fees. Tipping fees are assessed to residents and haulers who dump their trash at the Waste and Recovery Center in Hawks Prairie or one of its drop sites.
“Garbage pays for it all,” said Scott Schimelfenig, the county’s utilities-services manager.
The cost for a resident or hauler to dispose of each ton of trash, known as a tipping fee, would increase to $110 a ton from $80 starting Jan. 1 under the proposal. The rate was nearly $71 a ton in 2006.
The city of Olympia and Harold LeMay Enterprises, the county’s two haulers, intend to pass on all or a portion of the additional cost to customers if county commissioners approve the increase. Commissioners are considering the proposal as part of their 2010 budget deliberations.
The city plans to use a portion of excess reserves in its garbage utility to soften the blow. It recommends an increase in residential rates of 4.2 percent next year and 10.2 percent in 2011. The proposed rates would be adopted in next year’s city budget.
The state Transportation and Utilities Commission regulates the rates that LeMay, which picks up garbage for Thurston County customers who don’t live in Olympia, can charge. Last week, LeMay filed a request with the commission for a rate increase that would take effect Jan. 1. Jeff Harwood, district manager for Grays Harbor, Lewis and Thurston counties, estimated that the move would increase the average homeowner’s bill by $2 to $3 a month. He said the company would not profit from the proposed increase. LeMay operates under several business names in Thurston County, including Pacific Disposal.
Rising disposal costs will prompt more residents to recycle in an effort to save money, continuing to reduce the amount of money the county generates from tipping fees, county officials and Harwood said.
Schimelfenig said solid-waste managers throughout the state are discussing how to turn around this “kind of bleak situation.”
“We can’t continually put the burden on the disposal of solid waste,” he said.
Harwood said the revenue LeMay secures from the sale of recyclables does not begin to cover collection and processing costs.
He said the industry is in a transitional period. In the 1970s, family-owned haulers grudgingly accepted aluminum cans and cardboard for recycling. He foresees solid-waste collection becoming a “minor component” of their business as they transform into recycling companies.
“Those companies that don’t make the transition will probably not survive,” he said.
Working with LeMay, the county simplified its curbside recycling program and provided for recycling at apartment complexes, condominiums and mobile-home parks in 2007. The following year, the two joined forces to begin recycling food waste and food-soiled paper products. The city of Olympia offers the same programs to its customers.
Schimelfenig said the next project is to get businesses to recycle more. “We have not had much of an effort on that side of the ballgame, and we want to head there.”
Toward that end, county commissioners on Tuesday approved hiring an education and outreach specialist to make inroads in the commercial sector. A state grant will pay three-quarters of the cost to hire the employee for two years. The county will pay the remaining cost of $40,500. The employee will be compensated $81,000 per year, which includes benefits.
The existing initiatives have reduced the amount of trash that ends up at the Waste and Recovery Center.
Christian Hill: 360-754-5427
