Dive Brief:
- Gulf Breeze, FL will raise fees for solid waste collection services to manage a rate increase imposed by the nearby Santa Rosa County Central Landfill, which Gulf Breeze pays for disposal of residential waste. The fee increase will affect about 2,100 customers due to Gulf Breeze not having substantial reserves to absorb the landfill rate increase.
- For non-commercial customers with a single container, the current monthly rate of $17.70 will increase about 8.2% to a new rate of $19.14.
- Central Landfill's rates were increased to account for higher volumes of waste coming in from the county and surrounding areas, which will create a need for additional capacity or expansion at the facility.
Dive Insight:
This is the first rate increase the Santa Rosa County Central Landfill has imposed in about 20 years, and is still considerably more competitive than Perdido Landfill’s $45 per ton fee in Escambia County and the $50 per ton fee at Springhill Landfill in Campbellton. And it is on the low end of the increase, suggested by consultant SCS Engineers.
The rationale for the hike, based on SCS’s 10-year-study, is to deal with the need for more capacity to accommodate rising waste volumes from the county and surrounding areas, as outsiders have been attracted by the landfill’s low rates. Meanwhile, the site’s new six-acre cell to accommodate the waste from outside of the county will increase the landfill’s life by four years.
