New waste management company, rates coming for some Centre County residents. What to know
Starting on April 1, 2025, residents in Benner, Harris, Patton, College and Ferguson townships will have a new waste disposal company.
It comes after the Centre Region Council of Governments voted Monday to award a five-year contract with Blair County-based Burgmeier’s Hauling, moving away from an expiring contract with Waste Management.
This transition will bring with it some new changes, including new plans, new rates and the discontinuation of bag limits for customers.
Instead of bag limits, Burgmeier’s will introduce carts that are owned by the hauling company. Customers will be able to choose from three different sized carts — a 95-gallon cart for $31.09, a 65-gallon cart for $29.83 or a 35-gallon for $28.01.
Burgmeier’s also offers unlimited curbside recycling for each plan.
Currently, rates with Waste Management are sitting at $23.38 a month for a maximum of eight bags per week or $19.38 for one bag per week.
A Christmas tree pickup and two bulk pickups will be included in the plan as well. The bulk pickups will be on-demand and limited to two items per pickup. Additional carts for refuse will be available at an additional cost.
Cart replacement or exchanges will also be made available for $50 and $25, respectively.
Shelly Mato, the Centre County Refuse and Recycling Authority administrator, said at Monday’s meeting that despite the notable price difference between bags and carts, the prices are comparable due to the increased rates since COG’s last contract negotiation.
“Rates have increased significantly since we last negotiated a contract like this, that’s why the prices here are rising,” Mato said.
Although the rates have increased, Mato still feels confident that the COG is providing its residents with a high-level service at a reasonable price.
In Mato’s presentation at the COG meeting, she displayed two graphs comparing Burgmeier’s pricing and rate increase to other prices and increases that municipalities are facing across the state, with Burgmeier’s prices being lower than 15 of the 21 displayed entities and the rate increase being lower than 10 of the 12 displayed entities.
Burgmeier’s regional sales representative Dalton Wood is also eager to get to work in Centre County, saying that he is grateful to the COG for giving the hauling company such a great opportunity.
“I think I speak for most people here when I say that Burgmeier’s is really grateful to the Council for awarding us this contact,” Wood told the CDT on Tuesday. “We’re looking forward to getting started and we hope to make this transition as seamless as possible for the residents in these municipalities.”
Wood also said that he doesn’t anticipate any other large changes in terms of trash collection dates.
“In the year to come before our takeover, we’re going to be working closely with the council of governments to help reach out to the public and inform them about any future changes that might occur,” he said. “We’re going to be doing a lot of public outreach to keep the residents of these municipalities as informed as we possibly can.”
While Burgmeier’s will be taking over all refuse collection, the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority will be in charge of payment collection for the new service. Payments can be made in person, online or by mail.
