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In 2021, 2022, and 2023, after Recology was forced to pay back customers nearly $150 milion when it was learned that the city-sanctioned monopoly had overcharged customers, Recology is back asking for another big rate hike. Recology is seeking to increase collection rates by 18.2% starting in October of this year, followed by additional hikes of 7.5 and 3.9% in2027 and 2028, respectively—a total of nearly 30%over the next three years. By the end of this year, its current charge of $47 per month per household for basic collection ii service would increase to $55.55.

Robert Reed, a spokesperson for Recology, cited higher operating costs and lower revenue as the reason for the increase, and stated that residential customers in San Francisco currently pay 25% less than what Oakland customers pay per household in Oakland and San Jose, which employ other companies to collect waste. Even after the proposed rate increase, their rates would remain eight per-cent lower. (In contrast, Berkeley households, which have municipal trash pickup, pay less than San Francisco's current rates.)

Due to Recology's city monopoly status, which it has enjoyed since 1932, rate hikes must be approved by the Refuse Rate Board with input from the Commission on the Environment, the Commission on Streets and Sanitation, and the Refuse Rate Administrator. Its contract with the city limits it from collecting profits beyond a certain amount.

The Refuse Rate Board was created by passage of Prop. F, introduced by then President of the Board of Supervisors Aaron Peskin after it was found that the Department of Public Works, which used to help set Recology's rates, supported a rate increase of about 20% over a five-year period in exchange forfavors. Two Recology executives pled guilty to bribery charges, and the director of DPW, Mohammed Nuru, went to prison.

Given this sordid history, Recology may have an uphill battle getting its latest rate hike approved.