Augusta’s waste hauler is offering a new smaller cart option for homeowners who don’t need a big one.
An update from the Augusta administrator’s office details the city’s new prices and available options. These go into effect with the start of the new waste hauling contract with Coastal Waste and Recycling.
Coastal took over garbage collection for all of Augusta on Aug. 1. The company, which acquired former Augusta hauler Orion Waste in 2021, takes on the second half of Augusta service in the old city and urban areas formerly provided by Waste Management.
While pickup days remain the same, under the contract with Coastal come several changes for Augusta’s approximately 65,000 residential customers. The changes include higher rates and the elimination of recycling from the basic service package. Residents must now purchase recycling pickup separately, directly from Coastal.
The garbage pickup fee appears on a homeowner’s annual property tax bill. Rates established by the Augusta Commission under the new contract include:
- Residential service, including garbage as well as yard and bulky waste. The standard 95-gallon cart is $374.50. This is a 17% increase from the former rate of $320.50 that also included recycling.
- Residential service with a 65-gallon cart is $294.38. The size of the former smaller carts was 35 gallons, city officials said The former fee for a small cart was $232.88.
- Households can obtain a second 95-gallon cart at $183.20 annually.
- Non-residential service is $294.38.
- Service for unoccupied locations is $214.24.
- The fee to replace a lost or destroyed cart is $134.13.
During the “transition period,” residents may experience delays in the removal and replacement of the carts, according to the city’s update. If a resident requires a new cart, replacement will occur within four weeks.
All existing recycling carts are being removed. Their pickup is scheduled each day of this week, on a customer’s garbage pickup day.
Residents can check the date of their recycling cart removal by entering their address here.
Once the new recycling carts are distributed, recycling collection will officially begin Jan. 1.
