Trash rates going up in Long Beach

Officials blame higher costs and a state law requiring collecting, recycling food scraps

Higher costs to pick up trash and an order to start collecting and recycling food scraps, as well as other organics, has prompted Long Beach to plan a significant hike in refuse and recycling rates starting in September.

And there will be more increases in coming years as organic recycling is implemented under state law, according to Diko Melkonian, Environmental Services Bureau manager and deputy director of the city's Public Works Department.

After an independent study looking at the cost of service and rates, the recommendation is to raise residential rates by $5.43 a month on Sept.1, then another $6.45 a month on Jan. 1. Commercial rates will go up even more, with a 29.25% hike in September and another 40.14% increase on Jan.1 (the cost depends on the size of the container and the number of pickups a week).

The rate hikes won't be final until after a public hearing on Aug. 23. State rules for that hearing would require more than half of the individual rate payers to protest to stop the increase. While the rate hikes are part of the Public Works Department budget, it is not directly subject to City Council action.

In addition to higher costs for everything from fuel to personnel and the organic recycling rampup, the refuse division has operated at a deficit for the past two years. The refuse fund is called an enterprise fund, meaning all money raised goes to providing the service, with none going to the city's general fund and none received from the general fund.

The estimated deficit for fiscal 2022 is more than $4.5million, and the operating fund will be at

$3,857,733 by Sept. 30. Without a rate increase, there will be no reserve left by the beginning of 2023.

The last rate increase was on Oct. 1, 2019. And that increase didn't cover increasing costs, Melkonian said.

“Everything is going up, especially lately,” Melkonian said. “From the steel that goes in the trucks we need to buy to gas; it all costs more.

“Inflation is a factor,” he added, “but most of the increase is due to the state mandate.”

Senate Bill 1383

In 2016, then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed state Senate Bill 1383 to mandate reductions in methane emissions statewide from the state's two biggest sources: cows and landfills.

Cow burps and manure are a story all their own. But a fifth of California's methane emissions — a contributor to climate change — come from organic waste decomposing in landfills. So SB 1383 set a goal of diverting 75% of organic waste, or some 27 million tons, from landfills by 2025.

That law offered a gradual ramp-up, but businesses and residents were supposed to start recycling organic waste on Jan. 1. Many cities, including Long Beach, got permission to delay residential organic pickup until the end of 2023.

In June 2021, the city began a pilot program to collect food scraps at restaurants in preparation for implementing the commercial portion of SB1383. About 115 restaurants separate food scraps from trash, diverting around 130 tons of organics in the first six months.

The city hopes to have a full commercial program in place by Jan. 1, Melkonian said, and has ordered eight new trucks designed to pick up organic waste from businesses, along with 4,850 organics carts for commercial customers. Half of the necessary residential organics carts, 27,500 also would be purchased.

The most expensive part of complying with SB1383 is a recurring one: $3.9 million for organics collection costs for personnel, education, administration, reporting fulfillment and maintenance. That includes 17 new administrative employees dedicated to organics collection at a cost of $1,825,000 for the first year and even more after that because of inflation.

The bill also requires the city to recover unsold edible food and redirect it to places it will be used. Details about that program haven't been worked out yet.

More to come

Long Beach still is studying what it will take to handle residential organic waste, which includes green waste, such as grass and plant clippings. For that reason, this rate increase does not include paying for the residential program.

“We're still studying that internally,” Melkonian said. “Ultimately, we will include that in another rate increase.”

The cost and rate consultant, HF&H Consultants LLC., already has agreed to another study for the 2024 fiscal year, including the cost of residential collections, with the expectation that there will be another rate increase next year.

Where it goes

The idea behind SB 1383 is to slow or eliminate methane from being generated in landfills from organic waste. The best solution at this time is composting, but there are too few commercial-level composting facilities in Southern California, Melkonian said.

“The regional infrastructure doesn't fulfill the need for organic processing,” he said. “We're [SoCal cities] all interested in resolving that issue. Ultimately, it is the county's responsibility, and we're working with the county.”

Until now, almost all of Long Beach's trash, including organic waste, has gone to the Southeast Resource Recovery Facility, which is a waste-to-energy plant. That plant faces its own challenges, as it needs significant investment for refurbishment and is the target of state legislation attempting to shut it down.

But even if that plant continues to burn trash, it won't help with the organic waste issue.

“SB 1383 requires us to separate the organic waste and handle it separately,” Melkonian said. “That may mean transporting it out of the area to processing facilities, at least temporarily.”

Specific costs

Currently, households that use a smaller trash bin, 64 gallons, pay $20.44 a month for trash collection. The larger, more common 100-gallon bins are charged $24.96. All residents and all businesses served by the city pay another $4.03 for a recycling bin and collection.

After the Sept. 1 increase, residential trash rates would be $24.25 and $29.61, with $4.81 for recycling. After Jan. 1, the rates would be $28.77 and $35.13, a nearly 41% increase from the current rates, with another $5.75 for recycling.

Commercial rates, where the city competes with private haulers, depend on the size of the bin, which ranges from 2 to 4yards. Those rates are jumping 29.25%, then another 40.14%. For the largest bin, the total increase is from $218.62 to $395.99.

A comparison to other area cities shows that only Anaheim has a lower average rate for trash pickup. After the increases, Long Beach would be just lower than Sacramento, with five other comparable cities charging more.

The public hearing on the rate increases is set for 4 p.m. Aug. 23, in the Civic Chamber.