Starting today (Friday), Aberdeen residents will pay a universal $1 fee for trash pickup, as the city's two-tiered Pay-as-You-Throw program has not generated enough revenue to keep up with what the city pays in tipping fees at the Harford County landfill, according to Aberdeen city officials.
Residents have been paying 50 cents per container or per bag up to 20 gallons or up to 21 pounds, indicated by a purple sticker, and then $1 for containers that hold more than 20 gallons or loads up to 42 pounds, which is indicated by a yellow sticker.
Residents must purchase a yellow $1 sticker for each bag and container holding up to 42 pounds of trash starting today, the first day of the 2016-2017 fiscal year. The fiscal year ends June 30, 2017.
"Rather than dealing with multiple colors we'll just move to one color, and everybody buys the yellow sticker at $1," city Finance Director Opiribo Jack said Wednesday.
Residents who have purchased purple stickers can keep them, but they must put two stickers on each container, according to a notice posted on the city website.
The fee change has been authorized by Ordinance 16-O-13, which the council adopted May 23.
Jack noted the city spent $222,378 on landfill tipping fees during fiscal 2015, but it only raised $173,514 from trash sticker sales, generating a $48,864 loss.
"The purpose of Pay-as-You Throw is to be able to cover the cost [of tipping fees]," he said.
Harford County's tipping fee is $72 per ton for commercial haulers – those haulers have been taking their loads to a transfer station at the Eastern Sanitary Landfill in Baltimore County since May 31, according to Cindy Mumby, spokesperson for the county government.
The Harford Waste Disposal Center on Scarboro Road in Street is still open if homeowners want to drop off trash, at $5 per carload or $7 per truckload, Mumby said.
Aberdeen is one of a few communities in Maryland that has a pay-as-you-throw program, which has been in place since the early 1990s.
State officials have promoted pay-as-you-throw in recent years to encourage residents to reduce the amount of trash they generate each year. The Maryland Department of the Environment has developed a Zero Waste plan to generate major increases in recycling, divert trash from landfills, promote composting, yard waste recycling and water reuse and conservation.
Call the Aberdeen Department of Public Works at 410-272-1600, or visit http://www.aberdeen-md.org for more information about the trash stickers.