The city of Tulsa is doubling the green waste disposal fee for non-residents and commercial customers.
Councilors approved the increase from $2.64 per cubic yard of disposed green waste to $5.28 per cubic yard. The new rate goes into effect May 1.
City Councilor Jackie Dutton, whose district contains Tulsa’s green waste disposal site, said the rate increase is to pay for the site’s operation.
"Everything’s gone up in price. There’s the fuel cost, there’s the machinery cost, there’s wages for staff, there’s insurance. So all of these things combined,” Dutton said.
When it comes to commercial customers that use the waste site, Dutton says the increase is simply the cost of doing business. She says the city isn’t the only option for them to dispose of green waste.
As for out-of-towners who use the site, Dutton encourages them to be civically engaged in their own locales.
“We do get a lot of citizens that come in from Broken Arrow, Owasso, Catoosa, Claremore, various areas. All I could say is that I would hope they could contact their own municipal governments and see what kind of partnerships they could come up with to have on-site green waste disposal for their communities,” Dutton said.
