Fort Collins, Colorado, considers raising curbside collection rates

According to The Coloradoan, Fort Collins, the Fort Collins City Council has received a proposal to allow local hauling companies to add a surcharge on customers’ bills to help offset the fluctuating costs of handling single-stream recyclables.

Diminished markets for recyclables such as glass, paper and plastic have led the Larimer County Recycling Center to charge haulers $28 per ton to drop off recyclables at the faclity since early 2015. 

Caroline Mitchell, a city environmental planner, told the newspaper the individual hauling companies would be allowed to determine the surcharges, but they would likely average about $3 per month. 

“It would be up to the haulers,” Mitchell told the paper. “And there would be no constraints on the frequency of the charges or the amount up to the maximum.” 

Local hauling companies also have raised concerns about the price of trucks and collection equipment and space restrictions at apartment and commercial buildings for the addition of recycling bins. 

The city council hopes to divert 75 percent of recyclables from landfills by 2020, and to achieve zero waste by 2030. Kari Gallegos-Doering, marketing and public relations manager with local company Gallegos Sanitation Inc., told the newspaper local haulers support the zero waste goal, but want their perspectives heard.

“We’re very happy to have a voice in this,” Gallegos-Doering told The Coloradoan. “We appreciate that. And we know everybody is working to make this the best community we can.”