21-03-2025
Lodi garbage rates increasing next month
Mar. 21—Waste collection rates will be going up again next month.
The Lodi City Council unanimously approved slight increases in many residents' garbage rates during its Wednesday meeting.
Residents with 35-gallon carts will see an 89-cent increase to $39.86 a month, while residents with 35-gallon carts under the 20-gallon legacy plan will see an increase of $5.65 to $33.57.
Some 3,598 Lodi customers were using 20-gallon carts for trash prior to the city and WM complying with SB 1383, the law that required every jurisdiction in the state to provide organic waste collection services. Those 20-gallon cart customers now have 35-gallon carts, and will see $5 increases to their monthly bill for three years until they are paying the 35-gallon rate. Wednesday was the second of those increases.
Residents with 64-gallon carts will see a $1.28 increase to $56.67 and those with 96-gallon carts will see an increase of $1.42 to $62.93 a month.
Tiffany Christy, the city's management analyst in the public works department, said the new rates are lower than those implemented in Lathrop and Galt, but slightly higher than those in Stockton.
The City of Lathrop charges $40.01, $43.10 and $48.93 for their 35-gallon, 64-gallon and 96-gallon carts, respectively, while the City of Galt charges $61.12 and $70.87 for the higher density bins. Galt does not offer residents a 35-gallon cart.
The City of Stockton charges $37.38, $47.35 and $57.36 for the three sizes, and the City of Manteca charges 54.68 for a 90-gallon cart and does not offer other sizes, Christy said.
Commercial customers will see a 2.311% increase in their bills, she said.
Adjusted rates are equal to 80% of the annual change in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose area. The Consumer Price Index is a monthly collection of data on changes in prices paid by urban consumers for certain goods and services.
The data is collected by the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2016, SB 1383 set methane emission reduction targets for California. The bill's goal was to reduce organic waste disposal in landfills 75% from 2014 levels or from about 23 million tons to 5.7 million tons.
In order to comply with the law, the City of Lodi and WM issued new carts to residents last year and directed that yard waste and organics be picked up in a weekly basis.
Organics include food waste and food soiled paper, yard and garden waste. The new waste collection rates take effect April 1. The council approved the rates without discussion, no public comment was taken.
