BATON ROUGE - The drafts for the new Republic Services and Richard's Disposal contracts show that prices for garbage and trash pickup are not only increasing initially—but every year too.

The price to pickup garbage and recycling in Baton Rouge is going up and collection might only happen once a week. Republic Services contract with the City Parish expires March 1, 2023, and a new one would go into effect the same day. The proposed deal is a seven-year contract with the option to extend for three additional one-year terms.

The contract with once-a-week pickups would increase monthly user fees by $5.50 a month to $28.50 a month. An extra cart is $2 a month. Republic Services won't be handling out of the cart trash collection anymore (think debris you put on the curb). Richard's Disposal, Inc won that bid for $7.50 a month per household. That's included in the $28.50 fee and the contract length would be the same.

Republic Services General Manager Sharon Mann says Lafayette currently has once a week service for $28.68 a month.

Here, Republic and Richard's fees would increase by 4% a year starting in March 2024. By the end of the contract length in 2033, residents in East Baton Rouge Parish could be paying about $40 a month for garbage, recycling, and trash collection.

Even that number is subject to increase as the administrative, disposal, and cart fees could change yearly. The City-Parish does a cost analysis every year when it's making these adjustments.

Republic Services says a lot has changed in the world of garbage collection and many cities are changing to once-a-week collection. In East Baton Rouge, Republic Services says only about half of the customers pull their can to the curb twice a week.

"Anywhere from 50-60% depending on the time of year," Mann said.

Right now, about 130,000 customers in East Baton Rouge Parish pay $23 a month for garbage, recycling, and trash collection.

With the new contract, trucks will be replaced every seven years instead of every six. They'll also reduce litter and have surveillance. According to the contract, Republic Services will phase-in the camera and data management platform within five years.

The Metro Council will vote on the new deals Wednesday.