The tipping fees for recycling pickups have nearly doubled since summer, increasing from $64 per ton to $119 per ton, First Selectman Dan Rosenthal told the Board of Finance at its October 11 meeting.

“It’s a staggering increase,” said Rosenthal. “The alarming thing is the tip fee for recycling now exceeds the tip fee for solid waste. Those markets are just a mess.”

According to the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority, which handles waste management and recycling for 14 towns in western Connecticut, including Newtown, on January 1, the curbside tipping cost per ton was $44.81.

On October 1, that number reached $119.54 per ton, with the change effective until January 1. The fee is changed every three months.

“We are likely OK for this budget year but this will have to be dealt with in the next budget year,” said Rosenthal.

Rosenthal said the town recycles about 1,500 tons per year, at the current cost of $7,000 per month.

The Recycling Ad Hoc Committee, made up of members of the Board of Selectmen, Legislative Council, and BOF, are expected to meet soon to discuss how to manage the tip fee increase, possibly through a budget line item transfer.

Rosenthal noted it was the first time he’d seen that the recycling pickup tip fee be higher than the solid waste pickup tip fee. The recycling tip fee increase was also the largest he’s ever seen.

BOS Vice-Chairman Chandravir Ahuja asked if some recycling could be passed back to solid waste by the town for the lower tip fee, but Rosenthal indicated that would be illegal.

A positive, according to Rosenthal, is that in the next legislative session a bill may be considered that would push some of the costs of recycling back on some companies, like Amazon, that generate large amounts of recyclable waste through boxes and packing.

“If you look at all the material from shipping, the taxpayers have to pay to get rid of it,” said Rosenthal. “It would lead to more innovation if some of the costs of getting rid of it were passed back to the companies.”

The cost increase comes on the heels of a significant increase in its recycling contracts last year, which saw its yearly recycling cost increase from $550,000 to $637,449. That increase was negotiated to be considerably lower than the bids it received from its current contractors, Pendergast and Oakridge.

The increase left the town mulling the future of its curbside recycling pickup, and making improvements to the transfer station to increase its capacity to take in recycling onsite.

Rosenthal said that people should start seeing earth moving that needs to be done at the Transfer Station to accomplish the improvements starting soon, and containers for recycling should be arriving later in the year. Rosenthal said that Newtown is the only town in the HRRA consortium that offers curbside pickup for recycling. He said that the tip fee for recycling dropped off at the transfer station is $10 a ton.

Additionally, Rosenthal reported that the price of natural gas is up. While the town has solar and is receiving solar credits, natural gas is used for electric generation in Connecticut, meaning electric will also be more expensive

“Inflation is starting to create pinch points in our budget,” said Rosenthal, who indicated that the town should be all right for this year’s budget.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.