Residents of King County will see an increase in their garbage bills starting Jan. 1 to help pay for the ongoing modernization of the county’s garbage-hauling system.

The county charges waste haulers by the ton to dump garbage at the county’s eight  transfer stations, including the one in Renton. That charge will go from $95 to $109 a ton.

To cover that increase, the average residential customer who puts a can of garbage per week at the curb will likely see an increase of about 82 cents per month in the garbage bill from their hauler to cover the new disposal fees.

Self-haulers will see the minimum dump fee increase, too, from $17.25 to $20.

The rates for recycling services were not increased, according to Doug Williams, a spokesman for the county’s department of Natural Resources and Parks.

The county’s modernization includes the eventual closure of its transfer station in the Renton Highlands, which is included in the county Solid Waste Division comprehensive plan adopted in 2006.

That plan also calls for the closure of the transfer stations in Algona and  at Houghton, near Kirkland.

Waste haulers and self-haulers from the Renton area could use either Bow Lake transfer station or the Factoria station. Both are within nine miles of the existing transfer station, which was the goal of the comprehensive plan.

A date to close the Renton transfer station hasn’t been firmly set, Williams said, but the closure wouldn’t happen before the opening of the new expanded Bow Lake station planned for the fall of 2013. The Bow Lake station in Tukwila, just off Orillia Road at Interstate 5, remains open for garbage haulers, but there are no recycling services there.

The county also leaves open the option of keeping the Renton station, if its closure meant leaving Renton and surrounding rural areas underserved.

The Factoria transfer station also will undergo modernization. That work will begin in mid-2013 and take about 18 months, Williams said.

The county also plans to build two new transfer stations in about 2018.

The new fee applies to residents of King County who pay for curbside collection service or who use a county transfer station and live outside the cities of Seattle and Milton, which are part of separate solid waste handling systems.

This is just the second increase in a dozen years, and King County’s disposal fee will remain lower than those in Seattle, Tacoma and Pierce County, according to the county.

King County is in the midst of a modernization program that will update its 1960s-era network of transfer stations to meet the needs of residential self-haulers, businesses and garbage collection companies.

To date, the Vashon, Enumclaw and Shoreline transfer stations have all been renovated or replaced.

Current plans are to next upgrade the Factoria Transfer Station once Bow Lake has been completed. Finally, the Algona, Renton and Houghton transfer stations will be closed and two new stations will be built in about 2018.

King County has cut $39 million in solid waste expenses over the past three years – through reduced staffing, changes to operating hours and other efficiencies. These steps were necessary because of an 18 percent reduction in tonnage and a subsequent decline in revenue, according to the county.

King County operates eight transfer stations, two drop-boxes and the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill. Learn more about the Solid Waste Division at .