2004 PA BUDGET CONTAINS NEW TRASH SURCHARGES

The proposed 2004-2005 budget for Pennsylvania contains a $5 per ton surcharge on trash disposed at Pennsylvania landfills. This comes on the heels of a $4 per ton surcharge levied on landfills only 18 months ago.

SECCRA charges $52 per ton of waste received. Our customers already pay a number of fees that are part of that $52 per ton: $1.00 is the Host Municipality Fee, $2.00 to the state to fund recycling programs, $0.25 to the state’s Environmental Stewardship Fund, $4.00 to the state’s Growing Greener program – totaling $7.25 per ton. These fees are essentially special taxes collected for the operation of state and local government programs. However, they are paid for with your “after tax” dollars.

Why should this matter to you? The average resident generates one ton of trash per year, this new fee would only amount to $5 to $25 extra per year for families. However, this cost would be much greater on businesses. Most companies generate large amounts of waste. They too will be spending more for waste disposal and therefore, will have to pass this cost increase on to you, the consumer.

As SECCRA is a non profit organization, it is not possible to absorb these costs. If this fee is ratified, we will have to pass this fee along to our customers. The waste industry continues to be an easy target for these types of fees. SECCRA is concerned that if trash disposal fees become too expensive, some will resort to illegal dumping or burning. That is an environmental harm that we all must avoid.