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Jury cuts fuel surcharge and signs pilot compacting contract to reduce landfill haul trips
Summary
The solid‑waste committee voted to reduce/eliminate the Monday landfill fuel surcharge to remain competitive and approved a $58,000 budget amendment and a contract with Smash Your Trash to compact bins at three pilot sites; proponents said the program will reduce haul trips and could pay for itself within months at busy sites.
The DeSoto Parish solid‑waste committee voted to reduce the landfill fuel surcharge (discussion ranged from leaving a 3% reserve to eliminating it outright) and approved a $58,000 amendment to the solid‑waste budget to fund a pilot contract with Smash Your Trash to compact trash at multiple compactor sites.
Proponents said the fuel surcharge, instituted when fuel prices spiked in 2022, now risks making the parish uncompetitive with private and neighboring public sites; jurors discussed leaving a 3% surcharge authority in place for flexibility but moved to reduce or eliminate the fee and directed staff to monitor revenue impacts.
On the compaction pilot, Juror Baker described seeing demonstrations where compacting reduced a bin’s volume to roughly 25% of full capacity in minutes. The committee approved a pilot at busy sites (Stonewall, Logansport and South Mansfield) on scheduled days, with Smash Your Trash visiting twice weekly at some sites. Staff estimated the pilot could offset the $58,000 cost within the year at high‑volume locations by reducing trips and hauling costs.
The jury voted to authorize the contract and budget amendment and asked staff for follow‑up metrics (number of haul trips avoided, cost per trip, and projected savings) and a recommended expansion plan if the pilot proves effective.
