Recycling pickup could end in New Phila
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (July 1, 2024) – The city could discontinue curbside recycling because of increasing costs and low participation.
That’s one of the options council’s Public Works and Economic Development Committee is considering to help shore up a budget shortfall within the citywide refuse collection program. Chairman Dan Lanzer made the suggestion last Monday, citing data from the Kimble Company showing that only about a quarter of the city’s households haul recyclables to the curb with their trash each week.
“Another thing to look at, too, is that grant funding that’s on there, that $10,048, that used to be at least double that so we were getting a lot more money… and the Kimble recycling fee is going to be going from this year $12,544 to $30,150, so that’s more than double.”
Councilman and fellow committee member Steve Rippeth thinks it’s worth exploring but says that alone won’t solve the program’s financial challenges.
“If we have an alternative to that, then maybe that’s an area that we look at as a way to bide us over here for a while and utilize our resources better. I don’t think that it’s a five-year fix of the cost of our sanitation [services] because quite frankly we’re two, three bucks cheaper than anyone around us already. We’re the bargain basement.”
The committee will reconvene before the July 8th city council meeting to continue the discussion.
“I’m not looking for any action tonight,” said Lanzer. “I just want us to kinda get everything in here so that way we have plenty of time for public feedback and see what their opinions on everything are.”
Service Director Ron McAbier has proposed a $3 increase to the monthly service fee that would generate just over $280,000 in additional revenue annually. Council raised the monthly fee by 50 cents the year before last after McAbier suggested raising the rate by $1.25, a move that he says contributed to the program’s financial woes.