Phila. exploring fees for trash pickup, but not imposing them now

The Nutter administration yesterday acknowledged it was exploring charging residents for trash pickup, but said it expected no such fees anytime soon.

City taxpayers currently pay no additional money for trash service, though the practice is not uncommon in other cities.

"It is something we are actively getting information about," Mayor Nutter said of the trash-fee idea. At the same time, he was semi-dismissive of it, saying: "This is one of a million proposals. . . . Never has so much been made of a thought."

In yesterday's Philadelphia Daily News, city Budget Director Steve Agostini said that the administration "had a discussion about it early" in the year, and that a proposed fee was part of Nutter's five-year spending plan.

Agostini did not return a call yesterday.

The fee is mentioned in one sentence in the spending plan, as a way to generate money to support "a self sustaining waste management enterprise fund." Nowhere in the plan does the city assume revenue would be generated from any such fee.

"There haven't been any discussions about this since the plan came out," city Finance Director Rob Dubow said.

The trash-fee proposal was also not discussed in the City Council hearings on the fiscal 2009 budget that took effect July 1.

Cities that impose a trash fee often realize higher recycling rates - an issue of concern to Nutter. Earlier this week, the mayor announced that a single-stream recycling plan had been expanded, making it available citywide.

Other major East Coast cities - including Boston, New York and Baltimore - do not charge for trash collection.

In the Pennsylvania suburbs surrounding Philadelphia, trash collection is handled individually by each municipality. Some impose fees; others don't.

Seattle has had a "pay as you throw" program since 1989. Residents pay according to the size of garbage can they use, said Brett Stav, senior planning and development specialist for Seattle public utilities.

Stav said the program, under which recycling rates in Seattle have increased by nearly 30 percent, would strongly benefit Philadelphia. "It provides a great incentive for customers to recycle, and to look at waste and how they want to manage their own homes," he said.