FORT WAYNE – Mayor Tom Henry wants to lower residents’ monthly garbage fees by about 10 percent this fall because of higher than anticipated participation in the city’s new recycling program.

Henry announced his plan Wednesday to reduce garbage fee revenues by $1 million because of increased revenues from the sale of recycled materials and reduced costs because there is less garbage going to the landfill. The plan would cut residents’ monthly $11 garbage fee by a little more than $1 on Sept. 1, the second rate cut since the start of the year.

“The new garbage and recycling program is costing less and producing more revenue than expected,” Henry said.

Last fall, the city signed a seven-year contract with National Serv-All to provide garbage and recycling collection and disposal. For the first time in the city’s history, it began earning revenue from the materials that residents recycle. The city gets half of the profits from the materials Serv-All collects from residents. At the signing of the contracts, the city announced lowering its monthly rates effective Jan. 1 by 24 cents per month.

The city originally expected to generate about $250,000 in the first year from this program, but earned nearly that much in the first six months. Because more materials are being recycled, less is being pitched to the landfill, reducing the city’s tipping fees. That plus other cost savings under the new contracts will result in about $500,000 in savings. The recycling revenue and the savings provide the $1 million in total fee cuts.

Bob Kennedy, the city’s public works director, said about 34 percent of homes recycled last year. The city hoped to increase that to 65 percent by the end of 2011, but that number has already jumped to 68 percent.

While he knew the program would be a success, Kennedy said he was surprised by the speed it was adopted by residents.

Fort Wayne residents have been notoriously inconsistent recyclers, often recycling less than 10 percent of the total waste stream. City officials believed making the system easier to use would help overcome that apathy.

The new recycling program includes one large bin where people can place all their materials. Previously residents had to sort their paper products from glass, plastics and metals.

This has already made a noticeable difference in the amount of waste being discarded and recycled. Residents under the old system typically recycled fewer than 800 tons of materials per month. That number has grown to more than 1,100 tons monthly. Last year, residents sent 95,000 tons of waste to the landfill and are expected to add less than 90,000 tons this year.

To accommodate the additional recycling, Serv-All is modifying a recycling center at 2509 E. Pontiac St. it bought late last year.

Bob Young, company representative, said the new facility will be built specifically to sort single-stream recycling – when all materials are collected in one container. This will help the company sort the materials more efficiently and allow it to stop paying rent at a facility on New Haven Avenue.

Young said that renovations to the facility would be finished this fall.

Matt Gratz, Fort Wayne solid waste manager, said he expects the benefit of the new program to only increase. He said residents are still signing up for the large carts – about 20 a day. The more people who recycle, the more the city can save. The majority of the carts were delivered over the first three months of this year.

The city is expected to submit its formal proposal for a rate reduction to the City Council on Aug. 9.

blanka@jg.net