City of San Diego residents can soon expect to pay more to throw stuff away. The price to toss a ton of trash at the city-owned Miramar landfill, called “tipping” fees, could rise 71 percent by 2025 if the City Council approves the mayor’s proposed increase. Raising that price is necessary, city staff say, in part because San Diego has to start composting huge amounts of food waste at the landfill site.
Landfill owners charge tipping fees to help cover the cost of maintaining their landfills. If the Council rejects the fee increase, staff predicts the Miramar landfill will quickly slide into debt by about $10 million in 2024 to $119 million in fiscal year 2028. “Taking no action would result in either cuts to positions and funding associated with implementation of (food waste recycling) or potentially the general fund making up the cascading shortfall of $119 million in fiscal year 2028,” Renee Robertson, director of the Environmental Services Department, told the Council’s Environment Committee.
The Environment Committee OK’d increased fees on a ton of trash by $16 in July, adding another $14 per ton in July of 2024. The full City Council is expected vote on the increase in March.