Executive Summary of the Report on WLSSD District Wide Garbage Collection Industry 1991

Abstract

Since 1985 the city of Duluth has been in the process of developing a volume based garbage fee system for the allocation of the costs of collecting and disposing of its garbage. A volume based garbage fee system has an advantage over a flat rate fee system in that the system if correctly implemented will allocate the costs of garbage collection and disposal to those who are generating the most garbage in the community. A volume based fee structure has a built-in incentive for customers to conserve on activities that will generate garbage and to find ways to reduce their garbage stream. In 1991 the city mandated that the haulers provide curb-side recycling ahead of the state mandated SCORE legislation. To help implement the mandated recycling activity the city council established a volume based rate structure with an estimated stop fee to help the industry begin the recycling program. The city council mandated that the established fee structure be reviewed and modified after sufficient operating data become available to make such an evaluation. This paper is a summary of the total report used as part of the review process and it is based upon industry financial information, an industry wide survey, a customer survey, WLSSD operating data, state wide data, and national statistics.