You could soon be paying more to have your trash picked up, under a state budget provision approved by the Joint Finance Committee over the weekend. The measure more than doubles the tipping fee trash companies pay to dump waste in landfills.
Jason Johns with the National Solid Wastes Management Association says that will likely lead to higher prices for service, since haulers will have to pass on the increase to local communities and customers.
Joint Finance voted to raise the fee from just under $6 to about $13. Johns says the changes would also hurt recycling, because there was no increase in money coming back to local government programs. Overall, the fee increases are expected to raise an extra $50 million for the state.
Supporters of the increase say it will help reduce the number of out-of-state companies that bring their trash to Wisconsin landfills. However, Johns says those only account for about 25-percent of the trash dumped each year, meaning Wisconsin customers will end up covering most of the fee hike.
If left in the budget, Johns says the increase would give Wisconsin the highest tipping fee in the nation.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (MP3 1:11)
