Garbage fees to jump 40-70% a month in Kennewick. Here’s why
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- Council approved a 10-year Waste Management deal raising residential fees 40–70%.
- 96-gallon cart with recycling set at $29 in 2026 and nearly $34 in 2027.
- From 2028 rates follow CPI; recycling pickup becomes biweekly starting July 2027.
Kennewick City Council approved a new 10-year contract with Waste Management that will raise monthly costs for most residential customers 40-70% in January.
Starting in 2026, a 96-gallon garbage cart with recycling services will run residential customers $29 a month. Those services will increase to nearly $34 the following year.
Households that prefer to have a second trash bin will pay $39 each month next year, then $44 the year after. That’s because the cost for a second 96-gallon bin is increasing, from $2 to $10.
Between 2028 and 2035, increases to Kennewick trash rate will be based on a Consumer Price Index standard. If there is no index increase, then Kennewick customers will not see an increase.
The $20 million annual contract extends a more than 30-year relationship between city and the Houston-based company. City council documents say the company provides “good services at one of the lowest prices in the state.” The current contract is set to expire Dec. 31.
Mayor Gretl Crawford said the city council and staff have held several meetings in recent months to discuss the new contract and hammered out “very difficult decisions.”
“We do live in a community and we want to make sure that our community throughout is nice and clean, and we want to do the best thing for our citizens,” Crawford said at this week’s meeting.
The contract passed 6-1, with Councilman John Trumbo the lone dissenter.
He said he did not agree with immediately increasing rates by double digits, and that there was “no direct evidence” to justify it. Waste Management had previously raised rates by 62 cents in both 2016 and 2021.
But company officials have said at previous meetings that the cost of service continues to rise, and that an increase has been a long time coming for Kennewick. Waste Management said low fees and high inflation in recent years mean the company has lost $1.7 million annually in their residential line of business.
Some residents questioned why the city didn’t put the contract out to bid for other companies to consider.
But City Manager Erin Erdman said at the meeting they hadn’t heard from other companies who wanted the contract. Waste Management also operates the transfer station at 2627 South Ely Street.
Several council members praised the company’s quality and reliable garbage collection services.
Kennewick customers have benefited from the cheap garbage rates, they said. Though the costs will increase, Waste Management also plans to expand its recycling program.
Starting July 2027, recycling will be picked up every two weeks as the company discontinues its weekly bin pickups. Residents will turn in those flimsy 18-gallon containers in exchange for a covered 96-gallon receptacle with wheels.
New state laws will require leak-proof designs and lids for bins, as well as standardized colors to help identify waste types, in the coming years.
Dump station vouchers
The council also extended many of the additional services. The cost for those will mostly be covered by ratepayers.
Residential customers will continue to get six free dump vouchers to use at the transfer station, and the city will keep its fall leaf collection program in place.
Toyota Center and Three Rivers Convention Center will continue to receive free service through the contract, amounting to about $40,000 in services paid by taxpayers.
Kennewick and Waste Management are also hoping to “right-size” residential customers’ use of extra carts. While the city has about 21,500 customers using 96-gallon garbage carts, there are more than 38,000 in circulation.
Garbage drivers report that most customers with three or more carts do not frequently use all cans on a weekly basis, which is why the city has agreed to increase the cost of those unused cans to $18 next year.
Most Kennewick customers — about 87% — use either one or two carts, but 8% use three carts and 5% use four or more.
Pasco, Richland and West Richland rates
Residential customers will continue to have the option of cheaper 35- and 64-gallon bins as well as reduced rates for those on low and fixed incomes.
Neighbors in Pasco and West Richland pay $25.10 and $31.16, respectively, for garbage services only, according to Kennewick council documents detailing 2025 rates. Ed’s Disposal, a division of Basin Disposal, serves those areas.
Residents in Richland, where the city operates its own public solid waste utility, pay $25.20 for garbage and recycling. Those costs are subsidized by a monthly surcharge and high commercial rates.
Kennewick Public Works Director John Cowling acknowledged it was hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison with the city’s peers, but said the city’s 2026 rates would be “among the bottom 10%” across the Evergreen State.
