BUTLER TWP — Residents of Butler Township may get a slight bump in their trash bills in the near future.

The board of supervisors agreed to renegotiate the terms of its contract with Waste Management, which handles trash and recycling pickup for the township from now until the expiration of the contract at the end of 2026. The move was agreed to during the monthly board of supervisors meeting on Monday night, Sept. 15.

As a result of the change in contract, Butler Township residents will pay $2.33 more per month for garbage collection. For the remainder of 2025, trash pickup will cost $25.79 per resident per month, which will increase in 2026 to $26.56.

The change in terms stems from the April closure of Waste Management-owned Northwest Sanitary Landfill in West Sunbury, as the landfill had reached its maximum capacity. This forces Waste Management’s trucks to take collected waste to a farther location in Westmoreland County, adding to expenses.

“Because of that landfill closure, Waste Management now has to haul any municipal waste collected in Butler Township ... to the Valley Waste landfill (in Irwin) from their transfer station ... which was the basis of their contract pricing,” said township solicitor Rebecca Black.

The contract between Butler Township and Waste Management took effect at the start of 2019, when the company beat out two other bidders, and will expire at the end of 2026.

At the start of 2026, the township will solicit bids for a new trash collection contract which will take effect January 2027. Black said Butler Township is expecting a sizable price increase, as by January 2026, it will have been eight years since the township sought a new garbage contract and the pool of potential bidders has shrunk.

“The number of competitors that were in place back in 2018, when we initially sought bids, has decreased significantly,” Black said. “They’re consuming each other. There are a lot of companies that have either purchased the smaller ones or have been purchased by a larger company, so there's a lot less competition than there was previously.”

According to Black, one of the two rival bidders Waste Management beat out for the Butler Township contract no longer exists and was absorbed into Waste Management.