NEWS

Dover residents facing trash and recycling hikes

Cost of 30-gallon bags could rise from $2.15 to $3 while bulky waste tags double to $10 each

Jeff McMenemy,Jeff McMenemy
jmcmenemy@seacoastonline.com
The city of Dover expects to pay about $1 million more for its solid waste and recycling programs when its contract with its current vendor runs out on June 30 and residents can expect cost increases.
[Deb Cram/Fosters.com]

DOVER — The city expects to pay about $1 million more for its solid waste and recycling programs when its contract with its current vendor runs out on June 30.

That could result in an increase to residents’ property tax bills and a substantial hike in the cost of bags they pay for as part of Dover’s Pay as You Throw Program, according to John Storer, the city’s Community Services Director.

“Solid waste, we’re looking at an increase of about $400,000, and recycling going up as much as $600,000,” Storer told councilors at a recent City Council workshop.

Storer noted Dover’s solid waste program is run through an enterprise fund so the money it charges to pay for the Pay As You Throw bags has to finance the program.

City staff and the city’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee have recommended awarding the new contracts to Waste Management, the lower bidder, Storer said. The city’s current vendor for both solid waste and recycling, Pinard Waste, did not even bid on the contracts. The City Council could vote on the contract as soon as its next regular meeting, which is scheduled for Jan 22.

The committee and staff suggested the best way to make up the roughly $400,000 difference between the city’s current solid waste program and its new one is to hike the cost of bags.

That would mean the cost of 15-gallon bags would increase from $1.45 to $1.80, the cost of 30-gallon bags would increase from $2.15 to $3 and bulky waste tags would increase from $5 to $10 each, Storer said.

The city’s Finance Department suggested even larger hikes for bags because the cost of Waste Management’s solid waste program is slated to increase over the course of its five-year term, Storer said. Finance suggested increasing the cost of 15-gallon bags to $1.95 and 30-gallon bags to $3.15, Storer said

This proposal would also maintain the solid waste program’s fund balance at about $250,000 over the five-year term of the contract.

City Manager Michael Joyal said the City Council could also choose to use some of the fund balance to lessen the bag hikes.

Storer said the price of bags hasn’t changed since 2008.

City Councilor John O’Connor believes the proposed bag increases “will be a sticker shock to a lot of the residents,” but added it may encourage them to recycle more.

In terms of the city’s new recycling contract, it alone is estimated to increase by more than $600,000, Storer said, from $618,159 for fiscal year 2020 to the new estimated Waste Management contract for FY21 of $1.2 million.

“We’re essentially doubling the budget,” Storer said.

The increase in the city’s recycling budget alone could cost the owner of a $336,000 house in Dover, the average price in the city, an extra $57, Storer said.

The cost of recycling programs is increasing not because costs are going up, Storer said, but because the “value of the commodities” being recycled are dropping dramatically.

“A year ago, aluminum, you could get $1,100, $1,000 for a bundled ton, it’s now down to $400 to $500 a ton,” Storer said.

Likewise recyclers could expect to get more than $400 a ton for corrugated cardboard a year to 18 months ago, now it’s down to $35 to $40 a ton, he said.

The value of those commodities is what’s used to offset the cost of recycling, Storer said.

In terms of solid waste programs, Storer said landfills are filling up faster than expected or in some cases closing.