A new fee structure will be in place at the Dillingham landfill from July 1. The city hopes the new fees will be simpler and encourage more efficient garbage sorting.
Public Works Director Ken Morton believes the new fees will ease demand on landfill staff and prevent costly delays with the incinerator.
"We want to create an incentive for folks to deliver their waste at the gate in a sorted manner," Morton said.
The message Morton wanted to convey was simple.
"If you show up with a bag of sorted waste, you will pay less than if you show up with a bag of unsorted waste," he said.
Under the new structure, general landfill usage will increase from $3 to between $8 and $12. A full load of sorted garbage from a residential vehicle will be $35, while the same amount of unsorted garbage would be $55. Individual garbage bags will range from $3 to $5 for sorted garbage and $8 to $12 for unsorted garbage.
The landfill brought in about $130,000 in revenue from garbage collection in 2016. The city expects to see that number increase.
"With the new rate structure we are estimating about $230,000 in revenue per year," Morton said.
The bulk of the new fees will go into effect on July 1, while new fees with the Dillingham Refuse will come in later pending approval from the Alaska Regulatory Commission.
Reach the author at lawrence@kdlg.org or 907.842.5281.