Customers throw trash off the back of a pickup truck as heavy equipment operators move the pile at Hatch Hill landfill in Augusta in July 2021. Fees at the city-owned landfill are set to increase in September. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file

AUGUSTA — It’s soon going to cost more to dispose of trash at Hatch Hill landfill, which is used by residents of eight surrounding communities.

An increase in tipping fees at the landfill and recycling collection facility will take effect Sunday, Sept. 1, the first increase since March 2023. And this round of increases, meant to catch up with the rising cost of processing materials, is likely to be followed by another rate increase once city officials better define a plan to borrow money to extend its life by expanding the landfill vertically, according to a city official.

The cost to dispose of household trash will increase from $102 per ton to $107 per ton, with the minimum disposal fee also increasing, from $10 to $12. Those fees were increased in March 2023.

To encourage users to recycle electronic and universal waste instead of putting them in the landfill, city officials haven’t increased the fee on those items for several years. However, in September the fees to dispose of items such as fluorescent lamps, televisions, propane tanks, batteries and other recyclable items will increase, as many of those items involve a significant amount of labor to sort and process.

“This is a smaller increase than we did (in March 2023) but it’ll kind of keep up with some of our processing costs and packaging costs, especially with the universal waste and e-waste items,” Jon Chalmers, the city’s public works director of administration and solid waste, told Augusta city councilors at a recent informational meeting. “This will bring us closer into the market for similar facilities. I wouldn’t say we’re the lowest-cost provider, but we’re certainly not the highest.”

Chalmers said with rates varying and with landfills having different rates for different users, it’s hard to do an apples to apples comparison between what Augusta’s landfill charges and what is charged at the other six active landfills in Maine.

With an informal straw poll at a July 25  informational meeting, a majority of Augusta councilors confirmed to city staff that they support the rate increase. Multiple councilors said the city, as owner of the landfill, should prioritize Augusta residents, as the landfill is projected to be full in about four years.

“There are six landfills in the state of Maine for 1.3 million people. That just shows what we have, that a lot of communities don’t, and we should cherish that,” said Ward 3 Councilor Michael Michaud. “And if that means the bedroom communities are paying a little bit more, the commercial haulers are paying a little bit more, I don’t think that’s a bad trade at all.”

The fees the landfill charges to the city’s public works department for household trash collected curbside by city garbage trucks will remain at $62 per ton, although Augusta residents who take their trash to the landfill pay the same “gate rates” as other users.

Eight surrounding communities — Chelsea, Farmingdale, Gardiner, Hallowell, Manchester, Pittston, Randolph and Whitefield — contract with Augusta so their residents and businesses can utilize the facility.

City officials are planning for a proposed roughly $18.2 million vertical expansion of the landfill, seeking Department of Environmental Protection permission to add to the top of part of the sprawling landfill. Doing so could extend the landfill’s lifespan, at current usage rates, by approximately 14 years.

Public Works Director Lesley Jones said the city is undergoing audits and planning for bonding for the possible landfill expansion project. Once those finances are figured out, there will likely be another rate increase at the facility to cover the costs of operations and pay for the expansion while continuing to pay into accounts required to be set aside to cover the costs to close the landfill, when that time comes.

Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Judkins asked why the city wouldn’t just do one rate increase instead of two. In response, City Manager Jared Mills said costs have increased at the landfill and he didn’t want to wait for the closer look at financing the expansion to ensure the landfill could cover those expenses in the meantime.

Only At-Large Councilor Courtney Gary-Allen spoke against the increase, saying she was in favor of increasing the fees which haven’t been increased in years for e-waste and universal waste, but not in favor of increasing fees to take household trash there, which she said already seem high.

Residential single-stream recyclables are expected to continue to be accepted free of charge at the landfill.