LOS ALAMITOS : 25% Hike in Trash Collection Fee OKd
The City Council this week approved a 25% increase in residential trash collection rates, citing the cost of the city’s recycling program and increased county dump fees.
Residents will now pay $11.96 a month to have their trash collected by Briggeman Disposal Services Inc., compared to the previous rate of $9.55. The rates are retroactive to July 1.
The new trash rate includes an 85-cent monthly charge to help offset the cost of the recycling program. Although residents have been recycling about 20% of their trash, the program, which began last October, has been operating at a loss.
Assistant City Manager Gerard Goedhart said the loss is tied to a dearth of places that buy recycled material.
The new rate also includes 40 cents per month for an automated collection system, Goedhart said. The system includes a truck with an automatic arm that lifts the trash bins, reducing the labor costs of operating a refuse truck.
A similar program is in place in Villa Park, and three other Orange County cities--Yorba Linda, Cypress and Stanton--have included funding for such a program in their new trash rates, he said.
Another factor cited in the increased rates was the jump in county dump fees from $17.75 to $22.75 per ton, as of July 1.
State law requires cities to reduce waste for landfills by 25% by 1995, using 1990 as the base year.
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