Proposed recycling fee will not move forward in Colorado city

According to a Coloradoan report, a  proposal allowing Fort Collins, Colorado, trash haulers to charge a temporary fee intended to offset the cost of handling recyclables likely will not progress. City staffers say they will not present the proposal to city council.

Fort Collins company Gallegos Sanitation Inc. (GSI) requested permission to charge the temporary fee because of escalating cost associated with handling glass, paper and cardboard.

A city ordinance currently requires haulers to provide single-stream recycling to residents for free.

According to the Coloradoan, city officials are reviewing the city’s pay-as-you-throw ordinance regarding trash and recycling services. Caroline Mitchell, an environmental planner with the city, told the paper the possible changes could take into consideration the economic issues facing haulers.

Mitchell told the Coloradoan that rushing through a temporary fee as GSI requested would not allow time for public comment.

“An expedited ordinance would have zero public outreach,” she said. “Outreach is at the heart of all the projects we do.”

The Coloradoan reports that GSI has had a “significant financial loss” during the last seven months arising from recycling. There’s a “good possibility” GSI will have change its rates before a revised ordinance is considered by city council, Kari Gallegos-Doering, special projects manager for GSI, told the Coloradoan.

GSI customers using medium and large trash receptacles would see the largest cost increases for trash service, Gallegos-Doering said.

Information on the project, including a survey about recycling, is available at www.fcgov.com/recycling/update.php.