Manteca homeowners already watching their garbage bills climb are about to get a closer look at exactly where that money goes. City officials plan to dig into every corner of the solid-waste system in the new year, from the curb where carts get picked up to the final destinations for garbage, green waste, organic waste, and recyclables, all ahead of a looming City Council decision on new rate hikes set to take effect January 1, 2028.
The study is a precursor to that council decision, according to the Manteca Bulletin, which reports the city will examine solid-waste operations from the point of collection to where garbage, green waste, organic waste, and recyclables end up going. The current rate increase, which began in 2023, runs on a four-year schedule, and the newspaper reports that at full implementation, solid-waste rates will have increased nearly 50 percent. The Bulletin attributes those hikes to rising operational costs, landfill fees, and state-mandated organic-waste programs.
Tracking the Climbing Monthly Bill
The numbers tell the story of a steady, multi-year climb. The monthly rate for a 96-gallon cart rose to $54.68 on January 1, 2025, then to $58.72 on January 1, 2026, per the same Bulletin report. The newspaper states the last step of the current rate hike goes into place on January 1, 2027, when the monthly cost will increase to $63.07 — though an earlier Bulletin article had placed that same $63.07 figure on January 1, 2036, a discrepancy that remains unresolved between the two reports.
State policy is a major force behind the increases. California's SB 1383, according to California Legislative Information, treats organic-waste disposal-reduction targets as essential to meeting the state's recycling goals, and notes that hitting those targets requires significant investment in organics-recycling capacity — investment that cities like Manteca have had to fold into their own rate structures.
A Transfer Station Too Close for Comfort
Rates aren't the only issue on the table. The Bulletin's report notes the Lovelace Transfer Station sits within a half mile of Manteca's northernmost neighborhood, and the city is working with San Joaquin County to relocate it. The county owns and operates the facility, officially known as the Lovelace Materials Recovery Facility and Transfer Station, according to San Joaquin County, which reports the site received 260,777 tons of waste in 2023 alone.
The Bulletin's report adds that the city has previously floated the idea of assessing fees on development in north Manteca to help pay for a new transfer-station location, and that the city has in the past also considered operating its own green-waste composting facility on land at the wastewater treatment plant. Neither idea has moved beyond discussion, per the available reporting.
Regional Pressure on Landfill Capacity
The push to find Lovelace a new home comes as the broader regional disposal picture shifts. San Joaquin County announced a phased, long-term closure of the Foothill Sanitary Landfill beginning in early 2026, according to the Lodi News. The county has said consolidating disposal at the North County Recycling Center and Sanitary Landfill would generate roughly $80 million in savings over the next 15 years, and the Foothill closure plan specifically named the Lovelace facility in Manteca, open seven days a week, as an alternative disposal location that would remain available to the region.
That regional reliance on Lovelace adds a layer of complexity to Manteca's push to move it away from residential neighborhoods. Disposal costs have been rising for two decades, with a city presentation showing Manteca's municipal solid-waste disposal cost climbing from $35.75 per ton in 2004 to $44.17 per ton by 2014. The same presentation once floated green-waste composting as a potential use for the city's Hayes property and outlined a five-year solid-waste agreement with San Joaquin County beginning October 2, 2015, with an option for a five-year extension.
