Fuel/Oil/Environmental Recovery Fee Information

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. seeks to provide our customers with the highest quality waste and recycling services at a great overall value.

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. provides our customers with the highest quality waste and recycling services at a great overall value.  We are constantly working to improve our service, contain our operating costs, and develop cleaner technologies and solutions to reduce our overall environmental impact.  However, the rising costs of fuel, oil, and environmental compliance are not fully within our control.

Our Fuel/Oil/Environmental Recovery Fee is a charge that helps us to recover these costs and achieve an acceptable operating margin.  The Fuel/Oil/Environmental Recovery Fee is not a tax, surcharge, or fee imposed by any regulatory or government agency, but is a fee applied by Casella to cover our company-wide costs associated with diesel fuel, oil, and environmental compliance.

While the Fuel/Oil/Environmental Recovery Fee appears as one line item on customer invoices, it contains two separate components: a Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee and an Environmental Recovery Fee.

Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee

The Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee component is directly tied to the Regional U.S. Average On-Highway Diesel Fuel Prices reported by the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy (“EIA/DOE”).  The EIA/DOE updates this public index weekly by tracking actual average retail diesel prices across our operating regions. For your reference, the index can be viewed by clicking on the following link EIA/DOE Table or the complete diesel data can be downloaded here

The Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee included with your invoice will be updated each month.  The Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee for the month is determined by taking the peak weekly diesel price per gallon for the preceding month and applying the corresponding percentage from the Casella Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee Table to the invoice charges before taxes.  The Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee included with your invoice seeks to recover Casella’s overall costs of fuel and oil (direct and indirect fuel/oil costs for collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal operations) and achieve an acceptable operating margin.

Environmental Recovery Fee

Casella adopted the Environmental Recovery Fee to cover the increasing regulatory and operating costs associated with operating our collection, transfer, recycling and disposal facilities in a safe and environmentally sound manner.  To meet and exceed the performance standards of the strictest environmental obligations of today and tomorrow, we continually invest in technology, engineering, and people. The costs of these investments are, in no small part, necessary to providing you with the safest, most reliable overall waste services.

Casella is the only solid waste and recycling services company in the nation who is a member of Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Climate Leaders Program.  Casella joined the EPA Climate Leaders Program in 2003 as a Charter Member.  The Climate Leaders Program is an industry-government partnership that works to develop long-term comprehensive climate change strategies.

As part of the program, Casella set an aggressive companywide greenhouse gas emissions reduction target at ten percent over seven years, from 2005 to 2012. This will reduce the company’s emissions by 100,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalents each year.  To reduce greenhouse gas emissions by ten percent, Casella will:

• build landfill-gas-to-energy facilities at landfills to produce renewable electric energy from methane, gas that historically has been vented or flared into the atmosphere;
• improve the fuel efficiency and emissions of its fleet through alternative fuel vehicles and technology investments;
• deploy energy conservation programs at its facilities; and
• implement best practices created by our dedicated team of employees.

As a result of these investments, the US Environmental Protection Agency recognized Casella as the 2008 Landfill Methane Outreach Partner of the Year.  This award recognizes Casella’s commitment to and investment in technology that reduces the emission from landfills of methane – a significant greenhouse gas targeted in the battle against climate change.

The Environmental Recovery Fee component is a fixed fee of 6.00% applied to all invoice charges before taxes, including the Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee. The Environmental Recovery Fee is based on Casella’s overall costs, and is not tied to any specific direct or indirect customer costs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How will you calculate the Fuel/Oil/Environmental Recovery Fee?

The Fuel/Oil/Environmental Recovery Fee is made up of two components: a variable Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee that is adjusted monthly; and a fixed Environmental Recovery Fee.  The Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee for the month is determined by taking the peak weekly diesel price per gallon for the preceding month from the regional EIA/DOE Index and applying the corresponding percentage from the Casella Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee Table to the invoice charges before taxes.  The Environmental Recovery Fee component is a fixed fee of 6.00% applied to all invoice charges before taxes, including the fuel/oil recovery fee.

Is this a fixed fee, or will it be adjusted?

The Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee portion of the Fuel/Oil/Environmental Recovery Fee is adjusted monthly.  The Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee will be adjusted upwards or downwards if the peak weekly diesel price from the regional EIA/DOE Index changes from the prior period.  This means that as diesel prices go down, the Fuel/Oil Recovery Fee portion on your monthly invoice will also go down.  The Environmental Recovery Fee component is a fixed fee, and can be changed as necessary by Casella.

How will I know how much my fee is? Will this be on my statement each month?

The Fuel/Oil/Environmental Recovery Fee is broken out as a single, separate line on your statement each month.

Are any other companies taking this step?

Given the volatility of oil and fuel prices in recent years, many other companies (UPS, FedEx, and other solid waste and recycling companies) have adopted similar sliding scale fees to manage the costs of servicing their customers.