State College Borough and outlying municipalities may have to pay for recycling by April, a Centre County Solid Waste Authority official said.

"We have to find a way to fund the (recycling) program or we're going to go broke," Authority Director Ted Onufrak said.

Charging a fee to municipalities would assure the financial health of the recycling program, Onufrak said.

Gannett-Fleming, consultants from Harrisburg, will conduct a study to decide how much the authority should charge for the service.

To help fund the recycling program, the dumping fee for non-recycled waste increased from $69 a ton to $80 a ton last January, but Onufrak said the program needs more money.

The borough and the University operate separate garbage disposal programs, while the other municipalities employ private haulers.

The University recycles 125 tons a month free of charge. Disposing that garbage would cost $8,500 a month.

Even if a fee is adopted, the University is committed to recycling regardless of the cost, said Phil Melnick, a manager at the Office of Physical Plant.

Recycling saved $280,000 last year because the authority paid for the collection of 4,000 tons of recyclables, Onufrak said.

Borough officials said they are aware of the possible fee.

However, if the fee was charged to the muncipalities, residents would pay more for trash service, said Lee Lowry, State College Public Works director.

The borough currently charges $221 per residential household. Commercial dwellings pay $198 per year if they generate less than one cubic yard of garbage per week, Lowry said.

Recyclable material is collected from curbside bins by authority employees and taken to the Intermediate Processing Facility at the authority. Glass, paper and other materials are processed and shipped to private companies for reuse, Onufrak said. Non-recyclable waste is sent to a landfill.

Onufrak said part of the problem with funding the recycling program is that people in outlying municipalities burn paper goods and stop their garbage service. The authority loses revenue because less material is collected, Onufrak said.