A trash rate increase from the Hopkinsville Solid Waste Enterprise was approved on the first reading by the Hopkinsville City Council Tuesday night.
Once approved on the second reading, the minimum rates for garbage and trash collection will increase to $25 per month for everyone across the board.
Those increases mean residences utilizing 95-gallon containers move from $21.59 per month up to $25, apartments were previously rated $14.87 per month will also increase to $25 and finally, the economy classification will see the increase from $12.17 to $25 per month.
This will be the first price increase HSWE has proposed over the past 15 years, with the last rate change being in 2005.
The cityâs Curbside Recycling Program seemed like it was starting to catch on with local residents before the pandemic.
There were six or seven drop-off sites where people could take recyclables like cardboard, plastic, newsprint and paper.
But the sites are closed now, and the program is suspended.
General Manager Tony Sicari of the Hopkinsville Solid Waste Enterprise said he hopes the program can resume by May or early June once vaccines for the coronavirus have been distributed and once officials begin allowing inmates to participate in work release programs again.
The recycling program has relied on inmate labor, and with the onset of the pandemic, inmates were no longer being allowed to take part in work release programs outside the jail.