Garbage collection in Belize City is free to regular residential addresses. But, businesses have to pay Belize Waste Control to collect their trash.
And, that's why some are up in arms that the garbage monopoly will be increasing its prices to commercial customers in 2026.
It's a more than 20% hike but the company says it comes after more than 17 years, and they call the hike "overdue". Our new reporter, Jaleeza Roberts spoke with the management at BWC who explained further.
If you're a commercial customer of the Belize Waste Control, you would have been receiving emails like this one or perhaps you would have been getting a friendly call explaining to you why your garbage cubic fee will be increasing by almost 25%.
General Manager James Nisbet, says that after 17 years of no price increases, the service cost must increase for them to be able to improve on service delivery.
Customers will pay the new rate when their contract is up for renewal in 2026.
James Nisbet, General Manager, Belize Waste Control
"First of all, the existing contracts are not changed, right, so we're not raising the price half way through. The existing contracts will be honored. Another segue into another um adjustment of the services we provide, we won't, we will no longer be doing anniversary renewal of contracts, we will be doing annual renewal of contracts. So all contracts will start January 1st and end December 31st. So if you had a contract in May 2025, and it has not expired we will honor that contract process, all the way through to May 2026, however the renewal in May 2026 will then reflect the new price which is the minimal increase. So it's not we're changing all the prices immediately but we're preparing and we will be um basically introducing the new contracts as the new year becomes but it needed to have started from now for us to inform our customers that there will be an adjustment come next year or when their contract is up for renewal."
Nisbet justified it by explaining the expansion in routes and the quality of dumpsters now available. He claims in many instances the company has been operating at a loss - even though we note that they are a municipal monopoly.
But, he says, if any company feels the increase is too much, they are welcome to dispose of their trash on their own.
James Nisbet, General Manager, Belize Waste Control
"We have been subsidizing quite a bit of the um innovations that we've been providing, back 17 years ago the containers were completely different, there were no lids, there were no locks on the lids, they were not painted properly, they didn't have high capacity casters on the bottoms. You know, Lots of things have evolved and we have tried to make sure that we have provided that at no additional cost so we are subsidizing the cost, this is not straight profit that we're gonna be making, like I said it's a service that we provide to Belize and the customers and we want to maintain that level of service."
"All commercial customers have the option of taking their own garbage out so if it is worth their time, their efforts, their costs to do that, they're welcomed to do so."
Companies will now be expected to adapt to the new increased expense, Jaleeza Roberts, 7 News
Contracts for commercial garbage collection are annual and in the future - they will be standardized to run from January to December.
