There will be a couple of new rates for Swift Current's landfill starting in the New Year after city council approval tonight.

Large loads of regular waste will be increased by $10 to $90 per tonne, while the price of wood waste will be reduced from $60 to $50 per tonne.

Greg Parsons, the director of engineering services and operations for the City of Swift Current, said the increase to regular waste per tonne won't affect the flat rate of $10 on small loads that weigh under 500 kilograms.

"(The increase) is just to keep up with the operations," he said. "Because it's a utility it needs to fund itself, in terms of keeping up with the operating budget and the capital budget. Those are just increased needs to keep the landfill operating."

The City hopes the 16.6 per cent per tonne reduction on wood waste will entice individuals to separate their garbage and wood to save some money, while also giving the City more product to be converted into wood chippings.

"That's why we've gone this route, we still have to keep that cost at a break-even point," Parsons said. "We're trying that as an incentive to hopefully encourage people to separate that, so that it goes to the separate woodpile as opposed to just being in the garbage and then it's just filling the landfill."

He added that the City resells the wood chipping to the public after they have a contractor come in and chip the wood up, but the majority of the clippings are used by the community service group for as bedding around trees and landscaping.