Latrobe residents were facing a quarterly rate hike of up to 40% if the city approved a new contract with a garbage hauler.
But city leaders say they may be able to keep costs under control if the city instead begins picking up household refuse and recyclable items in 2026 by using its own staff and equipment.
With the move, Latrobe would join a scattering of other area municipalities — including Arnold, Jeannette, Swissvale, Southwest Greensburg and Pittsburgh — that prefer to take out their own trash. Rostraver is set to switch its garbage collection from a private hauler to its own staff in 2025.
Since Latrobe council unanimously rejected bids this month from three potential residential garbage haulers, City Manager Terry Carcella said city administrators and council will work to add equipment and staff needed to bring the collection service in-house by Jan. 1, 2026.
“We need a whole year to plan, to get everything in place,” said Carcella. “It is a huge, monumental decision, but I think we will be successful. We intend to hire people by October for this operation.”
Latrobe’s contract with hauler Republic Services will expire at the end of 2025. Republic wasn’t among haulers who submitted bids for a potential new five-year contract extending through 2030.
A Republic spokesperson recently told council the company wanted the majority of Latrobe’s households to use its “toter” containers for placing garbage at the curb. But the city intends to maintain the option for residents to use either a toter or to set out individual trash bags for collection.
Carcella said the city will need to buy garbage trucks and toters while adding at least two full-time workers and one part-timer to its public works department to take over garbage collection. Latrobe already is in the process of creating the position of assistant public works director, which would focus on overseeing collection operations.
Latrobe will pay Republic a little over $1 million in 2025, Carcella said. Spreading the cost of starting in-house collection over five years, he estimated the operation would cost $575,000 in 2026.
Start-up costs could include about $125,000 for a new garbage truck, $99,000 for a used one and $300,000 for recycling sorting equipment, according to Carcella.
“My goal is to keep rates stabilized as long as we can,” Carcella said. “We couldn’t do that if we awarded the (hauling) contract because rates are going to be at the mercy of that five-year contract, where it goes up 3% to 4% every year. A lot of city residents are low-income.
“We feel we’ll have enough income coming in billing-wise that we can maintain the level of service without raising the rates.”
In 2025, quarterly residential collection rates in Latrobe will increase from $69 to $70 for those who use individual bags while those who use toters will continue to pay $85.
If council had accepted the low bid from Earthwise for a new hauling contract, the respective 2026 rates would have increased to $98.52 and $116.22.
“It’s hard for me to justify that increase,” said council member Dawn Vavick.
“To absorb these cost increases without raising taxes, the city would need to increase property taxes by 2 mills for sanitation services alone,” Carcella said.
Carcella said the key to Latrobe’s ability to take on garbage collection is the city’s solid waste transfer station, located on Mission Road, where area residents can bring trash and recyclable items for processing.
“(Garbage) rates are really high in some other municipalities,” said Carcella. “A lot of them got into contracts with big companies and they don’t have the facilities like we have to make that changeover.
“If we didn’t have the transfer station, I wouldn’t even be entertaining this.”
Rates skyrocket under area contracts
New Kensington residents this year saw a 73% jump in their garbage bills under a new five-year contact with Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill, which operates County Hauling. Their quarterly fee shot from about $78 to $135.
West Deer in 2025 is entering a three-year contract with County Hauling that initially will spike the township’s monthly residential rate by 34%, rising to $32.25 from the $24 currently charged by Shank Waste Service.
Tracy Pawelski, senior communications counsel for the Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association, attributed the increases to inflation.
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Latrobe officials said refuse can be consolidated at its transfer station. That will save time and mileage on city trucks.
Carcella envisions setting aside three days each week for garbage collection, with a fourth day devoted to picking up items for recycling.
Council member Bridget DiVittis expressed concern about the potential for equipment to break down at the transfer station. “It makes me nervous,” she said.
If that were to occur, public works director Scott Wajdic said, the city could fall back on trucking refuse directly to a landfill.
“We have the ability to change,” Carcella said of the city garbage and recycling plan. “If it’s not working, we can change it.”
Commercial hauling contract OK’d
Latrobe Council did approve a new five-year contract with low-bidder County Hauling, for collection of trash from commercial customers in the city.
Weekly commercial collection rates will be subject to a 2% increase in 2025, under the final year of Republic’s contract. Under the first year of the County Hauling contract, Carcella said, the rates will fall back to 2024 levels — ranging from $25.17 for bagged trash to $214.20 to an eight-yard bin of refuse.
For remaining years, most rates will be subject to annual 4% increases. Rates for trash in bags or toters will rise by 8.5% in years two and three of the agreement.
“We were very happy to award that commercial contract because that’s a whole other piece of equipment and an employee we didn’t want to hire,” Carcella said.
Carcella said he intends to apply for more than $2 million in federal funding to help with program start-up and personnel costs associated with recycling.
“We like our odds in applying for it,” Carcella said of the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant program. The city should learn by July whether it will receive the grant.
Jeannette
Jeannette, with a current population of close to 9,000, has used its own workers and equipment to collect garbage since at least the 1980s, according to that city’s manager, Ethan Keedy.
The regular residential collection rate, currently at $132 for six months, is set to gradually increase to $162 by 2027. Commercial customers also will see rates rise for pickup of trash in bags or large bins.
Keedy said those increases will help to cover costs of updating equipment and providing pay raises for employees, with some revenue left over to offset other city expenses.
Still, he said, Jeannette residents should continue to pay rates below those in many communities with garbage hauling contracts.
The monthly garbage bill in the city will go up from $22 to $27, while Keedy said monthly rates charged by private haulers already can range from $30 to $60. It offers a discount rate for seniors while charging for city-approved garbage bags and stickers for non-approved bags.
Jeannette uses three trucks and six of its 10 public works employees to gather garbage and recyclable items.
The city recently paid $331,000 for a larger, more efficient garbage truck, replacing a smaller 2018 model that was showing its age. “We’re looking at purchasing another one in a year or two,” Keedy said.
It costs the city a little more than $1 million to provide the collection service, but the revenue generated by the program exceeds that figure by $300,000, according to Keedy.
“That money stays in the city of Jeannette instead of going to a hauler,” he said. “It helps keep the taxes where they are. We’d be looking at 5 mills in (property) taxes to make that up.”
In addition to pricing, he pointed out another advantage of using city staff instead of a hauler to collect garbage.
“If a hauler misses a pickup, the resident could be waiting until the following week for it to be remedied,” he said. “Having service from our public works garage, we can send out a pickup truck or circle back around if someone is missed.”
Rostraver
Rostraver, a township of more than 11,000 residents, has come to the end of its contract with refuse hauler Big’s Sanitation and is preparing to collect garbage with its own staff next year.
In October, the township commissioners hired two truck drivers and two laborers to join the road department for work on garbage collection.
Township Manager Jeffrey Keffer said revenue from rate collections eventually should help Rostraver cover costs for starting up in-house refuse collection.
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Township residents currently pay an annual garbage fee of $230. There is a discount rate of $210 for seniors.
Southwest Greensburg
Southwest Greensburg, with about 2,100 residents, has been collecting garbage in-house since the 1970s, according to borough officials.
The borough budgeted a little more than $360,000 this year to cover costs of the service, which have been on the rise in recent years and are covered by rates paid by residents and businesses. The annual rate for residents is $200 — representing an increase of $28, or about 16%, from 2023.
Two borough workers, assisted by two part-timers, handle trash pickup. They use a 2019 truck with an attachment for packing refuse, likely due for replacement within eight years.
Staffing the garbage service can be a challenge for the borough.
Said council Vice President Bob Warren, “It’s the same challenge everybody has, trying to keep staff when they can go someplace else and make the same amount of money.”