Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority rates to increase in 2021. Here’s why
Starting next year, Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority customers will be paying more for collection rates.
Citing COVID-19 as the catalyst for the increases, CCRRA Executive Director Ted Onufrak announced changes in a letter this week — saying the decision is “justified and beyond our control.”
“We have experienced increase(d) costs for personal protective equipment, alterations to our facilities to accommodate the COVID issue and lost employee time due to quarantine issues,” Onufrak wrote. “Our haulers have experienced the same costs and most likely will also be passing those costs on to our residents and businesses.”
Beginning in 2021, curbside recycling collection rates will increase anywhere from 15 to 32 cents per household each month. Depending on the type of service, commercial recycling collection will increase from $2 to $7. The municipal waste tipping fee will increase by $6 — from $70 to $76 — per ton. This increase marks the first time the tipping fee has exceeded $72 per ton since 1992.
Onufrak wrote the average home generates about one ton of refuse each year, so rates will most likely increase by 50 cents per month, “if not more.”
CCRRA rates are dependent on the amount of tonnage in waste disposal and recycling is processed. This year, tonnage has decreased by 15%. Municipal waste is down by nearly 15,000 tons, and recycling has decreased by about 2,000 tons, Onufrak wrote. In addition to declines in tonnage, Onufrak anticipates a “significant loss” in revenue, which is used to offset collection costs.
“Tonnage decreases of this magnitude leave us little choice but to increase rates,” he wrote. “We’ve eliminated three full-time positions and four part-time positions, and we still face a deficit for 2021 of nearly $500,000, which will come out of our reserve funds.”
CCRRA has not eliminated any items from its collection routes, and all materials are processed and shipped to markets.
“When conditions improve — and we believe they will — we will certainly lower our rates whenever possible,” Onufrak wrote.
