RICHLAND-- High gas prices mean it costs more to drive recyclables to the dump. The City of Kennewick has curb-side service, and now Richland officials are trying to make it happen there, too.

The possibility has not been seriously considered since the 90's, and at the time, a three-bin recycling system did not seem efficient.

"Since then, there's been an increase in technology, so you can take a single stream of mixed recyclables, and they'll process it into those different pieces that makes it a lot easier for the consumer," said Kip Eagles, the City's solid waste manager.

The landfill currently contains a million tons of trash, and if more waste is not diverted, it will be out of room in the next five years. Eagles said a curb-side recycling program will almost double the landfill's remaining life.

"Some of it's going to be convenience, some of it's going to be social conscience to do the right thing, and I think the biggest thing we'll get out of this, is the real stable garbage rate at the curbside," said Eagles.

He said in the short-term, expanding the landfill may seem like the cheapest choice. In the long term, if just half the households in Richland recycle, it will save more than 21,000 tons of space at the dump.

The City would not have to buy new garbage trucks, but the volume of trash would stay the same, bur recyclables would make up the majority of it. They would be brought back to the dump, bailed, and sent to the west side to be processed.

Eagles said it would be much more efficient to send a single truck to pick up recyclables, than for residents to make the trip to the dump themselves.

""We can haul stuff a lot less expensive 10 tons a time in our garbage trucks than people do at 200 or 300 pounds a time in their pickups," he said.

Eagles said garbage rates will continue to climb along with gas prices. Right now, garbage collection costs about $22 a ton, but if the dump fills up, it will cost about seven times that to haul all the garbage somewhere else.

The City's 20-year plan has to go through a few channels before it is brought before the county commissioners, but Eagles said they hope to have a better idea of what they are going to do by winter.