HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — After more than a year of discussion, residents may soon be required by law to sign up for trash services with the Guam Solid Waste Authority.
Sen. Sabina Perez on Tuesday submitted Bill 165-37, which would require all residential homeowners to sign up for trash services with Solid Waste. Homes that are required to sign up for trash service but have not already would be identified using billing information at the Guam Waterworks Authority.
Those that subscribe to a private trash collection company are exempt from the mandate.
Failure to pay for mandatory trash services would result in garnishment of tax refund payments, should the bill become law, and Solid Waste will be required to develop penalties for those who fail to subscribe for trash service or pay their bills.
Solid Waste would be authorized to create a customer assistance program to help those who can’t afford to pay for trash service. Though already a point of discussion at the trash collection agency, the details of the program have yet to be ironed out.
There are also provisions in Bill 165 that could result in higher collection fees for residential units that are larger than usual, are home to multiple families, or are used for home businesses.
Solid Waste currently bills residential customers at $30 a month, but is seeking for rates to go up to $35 by next year. All single-family residential units will be assessed at the same rate, according to the bill, but units that are larger than 6,000 square feet or are the sites of business operations may be billed at a higher rate based on monthly garbage disposal.
Multifamily complexes will be assessed based on the number of individual units in the complex.
In the case of a residential building with four units or fewer, the building owner can be exempted from paying for trash services if the tenants are required to pay for the services under a lease contract.
Solid Waste has been pursuing mandatory island wide collection since the start of last year, with Guam being one of the few places in the nation that doesn’t require residents to subscribe to the service, according to agency leadership.
While the agency services some 20,000 residential customers, another 18,000 are estimated to either be “piggybacking” off someone else who pays for trash service or otherwise illegally disposing of their waste. Requiring every residence that’s eligible to sign up to do so will also help with financial woes at the trash collection agency.
Assuming that they stay in a single residential unit, people who haven’t already signed up would have an extra $360 annual expense tacked on by mandatory trash collection, or $420 a year, should the rate go up by 2024.
A news release from Sen. Perez’s office states that mandating trash collection will help to curb illegal dumping and keep the monthly rates for trash customers low.
“Universal garbage collection is not only beneficial, but essential to our island’s ability to effectively manage waste and decrease our community’s risk of experiencing hazards from improperly disposed waste,” Perez said in a statement.
“Our community deserves an organized, viable garbage collection program promoting the quality of life for our people and the protection of our environment.”
The recent hiring of in-house mechanics at Solid Waste to service the eight vehicles in the agency’s fleet, as well as the anticipated arrival of five more trash trucks, will help the agency keep up with the mandate, the release stated.
A Guam Solid Waste Authority trash truck is seen Monday Aug. 7, 2023, at the GSWA facility in Harmon.
