Chesapeake’s curbside recycling program will end next summer.
The City Council voted Tuesday night to terminate the city’s contract with TFC Recycling, along with actions meant to fund other priorities, including raising the pay of public safety workers.
Curbside services will continue until July. After that, recycling options could include dropoff locations or private subscription services, but nothing is in place.
“I think the free-market approach to this is the way to go,” said council member Steve Best. “I do believe the time has come for us to recognize that the recycling business model as a system needs to be overhauled.”
The process began this summer when city manager Chris Price briefed the council: While managing residents’ waste is one of the city’s most critical functions, it’s become more difficult to sustain.
It’s a business with no revenue stream, he said. Chesapeake is the only one of Hampton Roads’ seven cities that does not charge fees for trash and recycling services. The city imposed a small fee when it implemented curbside recycling a little over a decade ago, but new council members rescinded it within the year.
Meanwhile, costs have gone up significantly. China, where much of our recycling used to go, stopped taking the material in 2018, sending the industry into a tailspin.
Much of Hampton Roads’ recycling ends up at TFC, based in South Norfolk.
The city’s contract with TFC includes a factor linked to the rapidly rising consumer price index, public works director Earl Sorey previously told the council.
City staff asked the council to consider charging a waste fee, but members voted against it last month. They asked Price to bring back other options to fund a public safety pay plan meant to keep Chesapeake’s employees among the best paid in the region.
Tuesday’s resolution terminates the recycling contract but also includes other actions including redirecting one penny of the real estate tax to the operating budget, eliminating long-term vacancies and possibly raising existing permit fees or taxes.
Together the actions save about $10 million, according to council documents. Eliminating curbside recycling accounts for $2 million.
TFC owner Mike Benedetto recently told WAVY that losing the Chesapeake contract could cost up to 25 people their jobs.
Katherine Hafner, 757-222-5208, katherine.hafner@pilotonline.com
