Islanders will be paying more to participate in the province's mandatory recycling program after the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission approved an 11 per cent increase in fees.

Every homeowner will now pay $195 annually for Waste Watch. The fees are collected by the province through property taxes.

Rates also went up $20 at the start of 2005 to offset a $2.5-million operating deficit at the Island Waste Management Corporation. Taxpayers also covered $6.5 million in accumulated debt last October when cabinet approved special spending to pull the corporation out of the red.

The Binns government agreed to increase the household fees last year. However, the increase had to be approved by the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission. Responsibility for the Island Waste Management Corporation fees was transferred to IRAC last year.

In approving the rates the regulatory body said the waste corporation should change the way it does business. It recommended the corporation develop a five-year business plan, offering Islanders an idea of how much they'll have to pay for Waste Watch.

"In other words you might have costs incurred this year that would substantiate a significant increase in rates, but those would diminish in future years," said IRAC chair Moe Rogerson.

Some of the other non-binding recommendations include putting contracts out to tender.

IWMC's deal with Superior Sanitation expires next year. It is one of the corporation's largest contractors picking up the household refuse and recycling over a large area of the province including greater Charlottetown.

Another recommendation suggests people who create less garbage should be charged less than the across-the-board $195 fee.

"If there's an opportunity somehow to reward people for actually reducing waste, then that's something we would certainly encourage the company to do," said Rogerson.

The Island Waste Management Corporation said it will take the regulatory body's input seriously.