Unloading recyclables will cost the city of Portage a lot more than landfilling trash next month.
The Board of Works approved a 2-year contract with Republic Services on Tuesday that boosts the city’s cost for the next year to $63.64 per ton for landfilled trash, up from $60.61 currently. In September 2024, the cost rises to $66.82 per ton.
Beginning next month, recyclables will cost $105 per ton to process, rising to $110.25 in September 2024.
“America’s recycling program is broken. Absolutely broken,” Streets and Sanitation Superintendent Randy Reeder said. “The days of waste companies taking recycling for free are gone.”
“Other municipalities are paying a lot to get rid of their recycling,” he said.
“I remember when their rates were in the $40 range and we weren’t paying for recycling,” said. Mayor Sue Lynch, who sits on the Porter County Recycling and Waste Reduction District board.
Portage has had difficulty getting residents to follow the rules for what can and can’t be recycled, even taking the large wheeled recycling containers from repeat or egregious rulebreakers.
Compounding the recycling dilemma is offshoring recycling efforts to countries like China, not only adding transportation costs for shipping the trash across the ocean but also forcing companies like Republic to be strict about reducing contaminants in the stream of recyclables.
“Sooner or later, we’re not going to be able to keep up,” Lynch said.
Reeder also told the board he received a $1.8 million quote for buying four automated garbage trucks fueled compressed natural gas. A $4.5 million grant through the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission will provide $1.35 million of the cost of those trucks, leaving the city’s share at $527,000, he said. Reeder is looking for additional grant money to see if that local cost can be reduced even more.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
