Business owners of Port Arthur are facing higher garbage fees. Apparently the city discovered it was losing money on the service, so they raised rates across the board.
While residents who do not own businesses may not feel the pinch, some might. Businesses do, after all, tend to pass on costs to customers.
But while the rate hike may not make much difference to most people, the strategy of uniform rate hikes in trash collection is outdated and bad for the city and great for anyone who disposes of a lot of garbage.
To put this another way, a business owner who fills a bin up halfway is paying the same as someone who fills his bin to capacity each pickup. This isn’t fair to the guy who disposes of half the garbage and the city is probably not charging the true cost to the fellow who is filling the bin up all the way.
The solution—as with so much these days—lies in technology.
Victory Stanley, the waste collection company, has rolled out smart bins in Boston and Washington, D.C.
To be clear, these bins are public trashcans, the sort next to bus stops and near pedestrian areas. Nevertheless, at least one company, SmartBin, offers the bin technology for residential pickup and their sensors can be fitted into existing bins so presumably business bins could also be retrofitted.
In Washington, D.C. the public trashcans monitor the amount of waste, the weight of waste and whether someone suddenly throws a lot of something away. The location of the bins ready for pickup is then uploaded into the cloud and relayed to garbage trucks.
This means garbage trucks will get only the bins that need to be emptied and not waste time with half-full or empty bins.
I suspect residents would balk at a garbage pickup service that refuses to pick up a residential bin that is less than full, but if it means less overhead, fewer collection trucks on the street and a deep discount on bills overall, people could accept it. Another advantage is cities would never get another angry call about a missed bin, as the system would catch it before any resident ever noticed.

But the big benefit would be to the city as it could allow cities to charge by weight rather than by home.
The city of Port Neches charges by the number of people living in the home and while this system at least gives single people or small households a bit of a discount, it is still inefficient. For instance, a big family reunion at Christmastime or a family vacation would not be noted.
Finally, for cities with recycling programs, a weighted, metered garbage collection system should provide a lot more business for the recycling centers. In other words, a smart system could mean we get many more years out of the landfill.
I realize Port Arthur is not Boston or Washington, D.C. but the fact is, this technology will only get cheaper and presumably more waste collection companies will get on board as it becomes ubiquitous so it would be wise to look now at the possibility of adopting this sooner rather than later.
At least, one would hope our city’s leaders consider this before the next rate hike for residents.
Jesse Wright is the editor of the Port Arthur News. He may be reached at jesse.wright@panews.com