The cost of trash collection is increasing this year for St. Paul residents in one- to four-unit properties, but it will drop back down a bit come April.

A new citywide trash collection contract with FCC Environmental Services will save most St. Paul homeowners a few dollars when the rates take effect in the spring, with some key exceptions. Low-waste households and others hoping to share carts or opt out of trash collection entirely may have to wait until 2026.

The St. Paul City Council voted 7-0 to approve the new rates on Wednesday without discussion.

Rates will go up before they go down. That’s because for the first three months of 2025, residential trash will continue to be collected by a consortium of private trash haulers.

Homeowners who opt to have the smallest cart available collected every other week will see some savings. Otherwise, collection rates just went up citywide by what would have amounted to $46 to $59 for the year, depending on the cart size, or about $11 to $15 for the quarter. Those increases will be reflected in the bills mailed this week.

“Under the current contract, the St. Paul haulers consortium are allowed to increase their rates at the beginning of the year, which is what they did,” said Lisa Hiebert, a spokesperson for St. Paul Public Works, in a brief interview Wednesday.

New contract brings (some) savings

In April, FCC Environmental will begin collecting trash at one- to four-unit dwellings across 90% of the city, while St. Paul Public Works will handle the trickiest routes. As a result of the new citywide contract, most homeowners will see some cost savings compared to the earlier part of the year, though not compared to 2024.

The annual price for small-cart removal, every other week, will drop from about $253 to $234, after state and county taxes and fees. The annual price for a small cart removed weekly will go up from about $307 to $331. A medium cart removed weekly will drop from $461 to $453. And a large cart removed weekly will drop ever so slightly from $553 to $550.

Some of those annual savings will be offset by increases to an annual fee collected by the city to cover the cost of carts and cart management, program administration, cleanup programs, education and outreach. Those annual administrative fees are charged at the same time as Ramsey County property tax statements are issued, and they’re going up from $33 in 2024 to $42.86 in 2025.

To date, all units in one- to four-unit properties have been required to have their own trash cart. Environmentally conscious homeowners who produce limited waste have long called on the city to further incentivize composting, recycling and other means of cutting down on trash production, and residents and property managers at fourplexes have questioned why they need to pay for four small carts when two or three larger ones might do.

Based on the input of a garbage advisory committee composed of key stakeholders, the city has agreed to explore both cart-sharing and opt-outs, though those options may not be ready for another year. Hiebert said FCC’s priority is to launch a successful trash-collection program in April, and then work out a system for exempting certain properties from collection.

City officials have said homeowners who claim they should be allowed to opt out of trash collection entirely will require city approval on a case-by-case basis, as well as monitoring. Applications could be available in October, opening the door to cart-sharing and opt-outs by January 2026.

A seamless transition

Organized trash collection began in St. Paul in September 2018. Rather than slow industry consolidation, as once expected, a multi-year contract looks to have sped it up, offering added incentive for large companies like Waste Management to grow market share by buying routes from smaller ones.

When the initial contract was signed in November 2017, the consortium spanned 15 haulers. It now spans five: Aspen Waste Systems, Gene’s Disposal Service, Highland Sanitation, Republic Services and Waste Management.

Hiebert said the city’s goal is to have a seamless transition from the private haulers to FCC Environmental on April 1, and homeowners will not have to cancel service or arrange to have their carts swapped out. To service the city with a fleet of custom-designed trucks, FCC plans to build a compressed natural gas fueling station on Randolph Avenue, about two blocks from West Seventh Street.

The city’s contract with FCC Environmental, a multi-national trash-removal company based in Texas and Spain, officially began in November with the company collecting recycling for multi-family buildings spanning five to 11 residential units, and under a separate part of the agreement, for buildings spanning at least 12 residential units.

Eureka Recycling will continue to collect recycling for single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes and fourplex residential properties.

The city maintains an informational website dedicated to all things garbage at tinyurl.com/STPTrash2025.

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