CRESTVIEW — An unexpected increase in tipping fees at Waste Pro’s Santa Rosa County landfill will be passed on to city garbage customers.
The $7 per ton increase takes effect April 1 but the earliest the city can implement the approved increase is the second week of April, City Clerk Betsy Roy said.
The increase will be 5 percent for residential customers and 4 percent for commercial customers. Residential customers will see about $.72 a month more on their bills.
In addition, a Santa Rosa County recycling plant’s closure and construction of a new one will see a $39 per ton tipping fee implemented, whereas before Waste Pro was not charged to drop off recyclables.
Residential customers will see a monthly increase of about $.18 per month for recycling.
About 30 percent of Waste Pro’s Crestview customers recycle, with recycling doubling to about 2 tons a day since the company implemented recycling incentives. Roy said under state law, by 2020, recycling will be obligatory throughout the county for all garbage customers.
City Council President Shannon Hayes agreed with Waste Pro’s incentive program, which rewards recycling residents with prizes such as gift cards. “We have to look out for our world,” he said. “We've only got one. If we keep destroying it now, there won't be anything for our great grandkids.”
Councilman J.B. Whitten — who, with all other council members approved Waste Pro’s rate increase request March 28 — said sometimes the unforeseeable happens. “You just can't anticipate something like this,” he said.
Waste Pro regional vice president Ralph Mills said it is the first time the company has been faced with a tipping fee increase in its eight years in Crestview.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview garbage fees increase