Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Please purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Your current subscription does not provide access to this content.
If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option.
If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view articles for the day, please choose this option.
Sorry, no promotional deals were found matching that code.
Promotional Rates were found for your code.
Plentiful sunshine. High 98F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph..
A clear sky. Low 57F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.
District manager Gilbert Pineda points out garbage mixed into the green waste at Waste Management in Lodi Tuesday, March 14, 2017.
District manager Gilbert Pineda points out garbage mixed into the green waste at Waste Management in Lodi Tuesday, March 14, 2017.
Most single-family homes in Lodi will see a monthly increase on their solid waste bills next year.
The increase is a result of Senate Bill 1383, the state legislation that requires every jurisdiction to provide organic waste collection services.
The City of Lodi, along with several other cities across California, have pledged to comply with the new law by Jan. 1, 2023.
The bill's goal is to reduce organic waste disposal in landfills from 23 million tons to 5.7 million tons by 2025.
To comply with the law, Waste Management, the city's solid waste collection servicer, will be asking residents to place food waste in their green containers, which will be picked up on a weekly basis, rather than the current schedule of every other week.
The increase in green waste collection will cause an increase in monthly garbage rates, the city said.
Bradley Sia, spokesman for Waste Management, told the Lodi City Council during its Tuesday morning shirtsleeve meeting that 52% of single-family homes in Lodi use 35-gallon trash containers at a current monthly rate of $30.60. Another 18% of single-family homes have 20-gallon containers and pay a monthly rate of $20.82.
In addition, 28% of customers use 64-gallon containers at a $46.06 monthly rate, and 3% use a 96-gallon container at a $110.37 rate.
Waste Management has proposed three new rate structures that will help the city comply with SB 1383.
The first structure is a simple $5 increase for all customers, regardless of container size, while the other two rate structures include a discount for senior citizens.
In these models, Waste Management would provide 3,062 senior citizens with 35-gallon containers, but only charge them $25.82, which would equal the proposed $5 increase for single-family homes that use the 20-gallon container.
In one model, customers with the 35-gallon container would be charged $35.60 a month, equal to the $5 increase proposed for that container size.
Customers with 64-gallon and 96-gallon containers would be charged $44 a month.
However, in the last model, all customers who do not qualify for a senior discount would pay $43 a month, regardless of container size.
The 20-gallon container would be eliminated under the senior discount models.
Sia said the senior discount rate structures were developed with the belief that most customers will want to upgrade from a 35-gallon container.
“That’s where we’re seeing a lot of disparity in customers saying ‘I’d like to move up,’” he said. “But at over $50 a month, there’s no incentive there. By compressing the rates and making the 64 and 96 the same, more than likely residents are going to say if I’m going to pay the same rate, why wouldn’t I maximize the value of what I’m getting.”
Under the first senior discount model, Waste Management expects just 10% of customers to use the 35-gallon containers, while 35% will use the 64-gallon containers and 40% will use the 96-gallon containers.
Under the second model, the company believes 15% of customers will use the 35-gallon containers, while 35% will use the 46-gallon containers, and another 35% use the 96-gallon ones.
In both scenarios, seniors will make up 15% of the customer base, Sia said.
“Going with the ($5 increase) might be the better thing because we are forced to increase our (container) size,” councilman Alan Nakanishi said. “So if we force everybody to go from $25 (a month for a 20-gallon container) to $43 (a month for all containers), that’s an $18 increase.”
Councilman Doug Kuehne favored the third model because it provided a senior discount and an across-the-board rate for everyone else.
“I think with more people being educated about green waste and recycling ... I have a hard time wrapping my head around 40% of the population going with a 96-gallon container (in the second model,” he said.
Mayor Mark Chandler favored the first senior discount model, which allows for a separate rate for customers using 35-gallon containers.
“I just don’t think you’re going to get the conversion you’re anticipating,” he said. “And I think a lot of people are going to be perfectly happy with this 35 (gallon container), and I don’t know where this increased volume is going to come from that goes form a 35 to 96 (gallon container). Are they consuming more?”
Staff said customers are not consuming more, but the rates in the senior discount models would help them dispose of their waste more appropriately.
“There is a substantial amount of folks that will attempt to cram 50 gallons into a 35-gallon container. And that’s what we’re trying to, de-incentivize, by moving to that next level,” public works director Charlie Swimley said. “When you buy a gallon of gas, you expect to get a gallon of gas, not a gallon and a half of gas. a lot of our customers are expecting to get a gallon and a half of service for a gallon’s worth of pay.”
New rates for multi-family homes, duplexes and mobile homes have yet to be determined, but Waste Management said it would begin charging individuals for overstuffing and contaminating the different containers.
Waste Management spokeswoman Vanessa Barberis said tenants in multi-family units are currently charged $28.59 a month, but property owners are charged any overage and contamination fees.
“But we’re seeing several large multi-family complexes in Lodi that have tenants producing two-to-three times that volume of service on a weekly basis,” she said.
Barberis said there is a property in Lodi that provides its tenants four 4-yard bins that are collected four times a week at a monthly rate of $5,433.68.
The 81 residents in this particular complex are billed a total of $2,315.79, she said, and the entire property is being under-billed by $3,117.89.
“The consensus between property owners, city staff and Waste Management is that we have an opportunity to update and correct the multi-family tenant rates to meet full cost of service,” she said.
With the change, residents will be given three warnings if the bins in their complex are overfilled or the contents are not properly sorted.
A fourth violation will result in their bills being automatically upgraded to the equivalent of a residential 64-gallon or 96-gallon charge to avoid overage charges, Barberis said.
The council did not take any action on the rates, but the city will provide public notice of a public hearing to discuss the increases by Sept. 2, and a public hearing is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 19.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Would you like to receive breaking news alerts? Sign up now!
Would you like to receive our daily news headlines? Sign up now!
Would you like to receive our daily sports headlines? Sign up now!
Want to check out the digital edition of Lodi News-Sentinel?
Accessible anytime and anywhere on your desktop, tablet and smart phone devices. The Lodi News e-Edition is enhanced with the latest digital tools, including RSS feeds, social networking and much more.