Program would institute a pay-as-you-throw system offering residents multiple trash can size options, each with their own price.
Steamboats Springs is exploring a plan to have one trash hauler serve all of its residential customers through a city-wide contract, a system that would replace the current patchwork of haulers that requires residents to organize their own trash service.
The plan is part of a city effort to adopt a pay-as-you-throw trash system, which would require trash haulers to offer multiple trash can sizes at different price points in addition to a recycling bin. This system would allow residents who produce less trash to have a smaller trash can and pay a lesser rate for service — a potential financial motivation to produce less trash.
The goal of this system would be to increase the amount of waste from Steamboat Springs that is diverted from the landfill. Numerous other communities in Colorado are already using pay-as-you-throw systems, and it seems to be working for them. While Steamboat’s current diversion rate is about 14%, Aspen and Vail — which each have pay-as-you-throw systems — have rates of 27% and 36%, respectively.
“The statistics you have here from our neighbors are pretty dramatic in terms of the difference in the diversion rate that they have, versus what we have,” said Council member Steve Muntean. “I think [pay-as-you-throw] is a slam dunk, personally.”
In a meeting earlier this month, everyone on City Council showed interest in developing policy that would require pay-as-you-throw style trash. A majority, but not all of them, said they favored implementing this system by contracting a hauler to cover all the city’s residential customers. The other option would be to create a system that licenses various haulers to ensure they are offering the required trash service, keeping things similar to how they are now.
The idea for this policy traces back to the Routt County Climate Action Plan, which has goals to increase community waste diversion to 46% by 2030 and to 85% by 2050. City Council adopted the Climate Action Plan in 2021 and is wading through various implementation strategies.
In addition to increasing diversion rates, the hope is a pay-as-you-throw system would financially incentivize residents to recycle. While residents get to choose their trash can size under a pay-as-you-throw model, everyone would get a large recycling bin as well.
“It makes trash priced similarly to other utilities where the more you use, like water or electricity, the more you pay,” said Audrey Wheeler, a consultant with Boulder-based Eco-Cycle. “We know that this works because it provides that financial incentive for people to recycle more.”
One potential hiccup that will have to be decided is the sizes of cans that are offered. An example presented would use 35-gallon, 65-gallon and 95-gallon trash options. The problem is here is the arm on trash trucks that lifts trash cans up to dump into the truck struggles with the small 35-gallon can.
“I’ve heard a lot of comments about those falling into the truck,” said Alicia Archibald, the city’s community recycling coordinator.
A slim majority of council members said they supported exploring a city-wide contract with one trash hauler. This would be done through a request-for-proposals process, where companies would submit bids outlining costs to serve the city.
While this has the potential to save residents money through a competitive bid process, Archibald said that she wasn’t sure they city would get multiple competitive bids. As the local Milner landfill is owned by Twin Enviro Apex and they are already serving roughly 90% of the city’s residential customers, they may have a competitive advantage that drives other potential bids away, she added.
“We have one predominant carrier,” said council president Gail Garey, in support of a city-wide trash contract. “I’m absolutely a free market person, I believe in competition, but when you don’t have competition, you need regulation to keep prices in check.”
Council members Amy Dickson, Joella West and Muntean said they favored implementing pay-as-you-throw in a way that would allow residents to continue to choose their own trash hauler. This would be done through licensing that already exists, though it would need to be updated with the new pay-as-you-throw requirement.
“I am completely with [Dickson] on the idea of staying with the current licensing program,” West said. “Given this community, I cannot imagine that we are going to see additional haulers who want to have business within the city and I also would hesitate to put out of business the smaller haulers.”
Council discussed the pay-as-you-throw system in a work session on March 11. Staff will develop a policy and return to Council for consideration later this year.