All Lawrenceville residents might start paying for trash collection next year, as a way for the Gwinnett city to keep a curbside recycling program without hemorrhaging money.
At a May meeting, city officials discussed a plan to gradually begin charging residents a $20 per month sanitation fee. The plan would also decrease recycling pickup from weekly to once every two weeks. Trash pickup would remain weekly.
City Council will vote on the plan at the same time as the annual budget later this month. If city officials move forward with the plan, residents would start paying $10 per month in January 2022, increasing to $20 per month in 2023. Residents would not be able to opt out of pickup services.
“We have been working diligently to find a good compromise to satisfy the needs and wants of the majority of the residents,” Mayor David Still said. “That’s why we’ve come to this point, because people still want recycling.”
People who live in apartments and duplexes already pay $20 per month for trash and recycling pickup. However, 75% of residents do not currently pay for collection.
The city stopped charging a fee to residents in single-family homes, townhomes and senior housing about five years ago to offset a rate increase for gas, Still said. Before the service became free, residents paid significantly less than they would under the new plan, he said.
The city has struggled with an annual sanitation shortfall of about $1.25 million that keeps growing, said Assistant City Manager and Public Works Director Barry Mock. The city collects about $1.19 million for trash and recycling pickup now, but it costs the city about $2.4 million for the service.
City officials have transferred money from other funds to make up for the loss in revenue from free pickup. “Everybody likes free, but we can’t sustain it,” Still said.
It costs twice as much to collect recycling as it does to collect solid waste, Mock said. City officials also plan to contract with a new company for recycling pickup, amid rising costs from the current company they use.
Companies have had to up their fees to make up for market changes, Still said, leading to recycling costs significantly rising in recent years.
The new plan would add about $750,000 in revenue in the first year, increasing to $1.5 million in the second year and moving forward. It would get the city out of the red by the second year.
Similar to Snellville, Lawrenceville officials favored adding bins at the city’s Public Works Facility for residents to recycle glass. Glass cannot be recycled with other materials in Lawrenceville curbside bins.
Residents in unincorporated Gwinnett County pay about $18 per month for trash and recycling collection, Mock said. Other Gwinnett cities, including Lilburn, Norcross and Peachtree Corners, charge residents similar fees for trash collection, he said.
About the Author
