Stonington ― Residents will see a significant price increase in what it costs to get rid of their trash when yellow bag prices go up on Friday.

“It’s a moderate increase, and hopefully next year we won’t have to raise prices again,” said Jill Senior, the town’s director of solid waste and recycling said on Wednesday.

On Friday, the cost for a sleeve of five small bags will increase from $4.50 to $6, and the cost of a sleeve of five large bags will rise from $7.25 to $9.

Instead of funding its waste collection and disposal through property taxes, the town requires property owners to purchase yellow trash bags to dispose of their household trash. This means residents pay based on how much garbage they generate instead of based on how much their property is worth. The program has become a model for communities across the state.

In January 2020, the price increased by 25 cents for large bags and 10 cents for small bags.

“We understand it’s pricey. This wasn’t an easy decision, but, if you look back, that $.25 and $.10 for the large and small, respectively, that’s the only increase we’ve had for 10 years,” she said.

Senior attributed the need for the increase to rising costs of disposal, bag production and collection and hauling by F.E. Crandall Disposal, among others.

Crandall renegotiated its contract with the town last September, raising costs by $223,000 to $943,000 per year.

“We really try to maintain a good revenue to support the department, so we don’t have to go to the taxpayer for additional funding,” Senior said.

She said the town’s numerous recycling programs seem to be reducing the number of bags residents’ use, and some residents have reported one bag lasting up to two weeks with the new food waste recycling program.

The program has diverted 90 tons of food waste from landfills to be converted to energy since the program began in late January.

“We’re doing a lot of programs to help the residents remove as much waste as they can from their yellow bags,” she said.

In addition to food waste and traditional recycling, the town also operates a textile recycling program and a new plastic film recycling program that started in mid-May which collected almost 700 pounds of plastic film and wrapping in two months, further reducing the amount of waste which normally is discarded as household waste.

Senior noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were quality issues with the yellow bags, but those issues have been resolved. If residents still get a defective bag, they may return it to Town Hall for replacement.