PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend is likely to see changes in how it handles solid waste this year and in 2026.
Public Works Director Steve King said the main changes at play are a slight increase in monthly garbage fees, a reduction from multiple recycling bins down to one and the possibility of the need for a new single-stream recycling truck.
The changes are driven by likely adjustments with Jefferson County’s waste management system, King said.
A resolution amending the fee schedule was passed May 12 during the Board of County Commissioners’ (BOCC) meeting as a part if the consent agenda.
The fee schedule amendment would increase the $165.23-per-ton tipping fee to $180.23 per ton on Aug. 1.
“Tipping fees are pass-through charges that are identified in the contract (with Olympic Disposal),” King said.
The pass through to customers likely would amount to about 50 cents per month for the average residential customer in the city, King said.
The increased fee is expected to raise about $326,000 per year, and it’s planned to go toward capital projects at Jefferson County Solid Waste, 325 County Landfill Road, King said.
City customers also will see a change in recycling, King said.
“We have a source-separated system now,” King said. “In the city, every customer has, I think, three bins. There’s a special truck for that, and there’s all these bins with 4,000-plus customers.”
Source separated refers to a system in which customers separate their recycling into different categories, such as paper, aluminum and glass.
Al Cairns, the county’s solid waste manager, said the ordinance is likely to go before the BOCC in October.
For the county, part of the effect of the ordinance would mean that residents ordering trash pickup would be obliged to receive a curbside recycling can as well, King said.
Jefferson County is one of two counties in the state with source-separated recycling, King said.
Processing source-separated recycling would be lost as well, King said.
“If there’s nowhere for us to take source separated, because the county’s not doing it anymore, that’s our impact,” King said.
One desired outcome is that the curbside cans will discourage dropoff recycling, King said.
The county’s recycling centers in Port Hadlock and Quilcene are planned to shut down in April of 2026 if the ordinance goes through, King said.
“Recycling operates on a subsidy to the tune of about $300,000 per year,” King said. “The tipping fee pays for recycling services.”
King was rounding down. In his presentation to the city council on Monday, the number $325,000 shows up repeatedly as the annual subsidy rate paid for by the county.
“In the city, Olympic Disposal picks up the bins, keeps them separated in the truck and then takes them to the transfer station, delivers it and then Skookum takes it from there,” King said. “The county pays Skookum for that service. Any credit or commodity value, there’s a credit against that it reduces the amount the county has to subsidize.”
Skookum currently is contracted with the county to operate the landfill. Its contract is up in April 2026, King said.
Recycling is changing, King said.
“My last understanding is that the only recycling that had any positive commodity value was paper. Everything else was subsidized,” King said.
Joey Deese, site manager for Olympic Disposal-Waste Connections, said cardboard and aluminum, if it’s separated out, can be valuable.
King also discussed climate impacts of recycling.
“When we start looking at the total environmental picture, there’s way more fuel per ton consumed from self hauling than from collection trucks,” King said.
Not only is the fuel impact higher, so too is the impact on the transfer station, as it needs to serve many vehicles instead of one, King said.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
