Being environmentally conscious may cost Denver residents $10 a month next year.

City Councilman Ted Hackworth has proposed charging for curbside recycling services - now free - as a way to stem the $15 million deficit the city faces next year. The proposed $10 fee is expected to raise about $800,000 annually. The fee also is expected to cause a decline - about 20 percent - in households that use the service, Hackworth said.

"Right now, the recycling program costs the city about $1.7 million a year, and we get about $300,000 from the items recycled," Hackworth said Monday. "That means we're in the hole $1.4 million. That just doesn't make sense when the city is facing a budget deficit."

DECLINING MARKET

The city operates regular trash pickup for 163,000 households, about half of which recycle, officials said. The costs are covered by the city's $760 million general fund. Mayor Wellington Webb has refused to charge for regular garbage collection but said he would consider a charge for recycling. Webb began curbside recycling in some neighborhoods during his first term in 1991 and expanded it citywide in the past few years.

Households recycle newspapers, glass bottles, aluminum, steel, cans and plastic. The market for those items has declined in recent years, bringing in less revenue to the city.

Hackworth's proposed fee would be nearly three times higher than in neighboring communities. A majority of households in the suburbs pay $3.50 a month for recycling, according to Waste Management of Colorado, a private company that provides the service.

"No one on the council likes charging new or higher fees, but what else are we going to do?" Hackworth said. "This budget deficit is real and something unusual for Denver residents who had 10 years of growth and prosperity."

Councilwoman Joyce Foster opposes any recycling fee because of the possible consequences of fewer residents using the service and landfills filling up quicker.

Residents who use the service had mixed reactions to a new fee.

"I'm not sure I would continue to recycle if the city began charging," said south Denver resident Richard Johnson.

FEES MAY DISCOURAGE USE

Dan Sanchez of northwest Denver said he would pay the fee but isn't sure his neighbors, especially senior citizens on fixed incomes, would continue the service.

"I think people have gotten more aware over the last few years of what can be recycled," he said. "People are using the service now but if the city charges, you'll see less people participating."

Hackworth said he has spoken to several residents in his southwest district who would continue to pay for the service.