Trash and Recycling Bids

At last night's Borough Council Meeting, staff briefed Council on the bids received for our 2023-2025 Solid Waste and Recycling contract. Our current contract with Waste Connections expires on December 31, 2022. There is a lot of information below, but we want to point out that no decision has been made. Council has until August 20, 2022, to take action on the bid. 

Only our current provider, Waste Connections, opted to bid on the contract. Two contractors cited the distance of the Borough to their facilities as being too far to provide a competitive bid, while the other prefers to service municipalities where they can automate their collection services.

When going out to bid, the Borough required contractors to provide pricing for different options. Option 3.A.1 is continuing the Pay As You Throw System, but switching to tags on customer-provided bags instead of Borough bags. The bag weight limit is 40 pounds and customers can leave out unlimited bags per week. Option 3.A.2 is a flat fee per dwelling unit. This option allows for up to three customer-provided containers (bag or can) per week with a weight limit of 40 pounds.

Service Options
Option 3.A.3 is a flat fee per dwelling unit with optional additional tagged bags for high volume uses. This option allows one customer-provided container (bag or can) per week with a weight limit of 40 pounds. Residents can purchase tags for additional bags as necessary. Option 3.A.4 is also a flat fee per dwelling unit with an option for Low Volume Users. The option allows a maximum of three customer-provided containers (bag or can) per week with a weight limit of 40 pounds. Low Volume Users can opt-out of the flat fee and purchase tags, but must purchase at least five tags each quarter. All of the options include weekly recycling and one bulk item per week.

The cost for the first year of each option are as follows: 
Option 3.A.1: $6.92/tag
Option 3.A.2: $90/Quarter per dwelling unit
Option 3.A.3: $75/Quarter per dwelling unit and $6.92/additional tagged bags
Option 3.A.4: $99/Quarter per dwelling unit (flat fee option), $15/tag with minimum purchase of 5 tags per quarter (low volume user option).
Bid Chart

Like other municipalities, we are seeing increases in collection costs. The primary reasons are increased fuel costs and labor. The price of a gallon of diesel fuel has increased about 111% since last year. Middlesex Township went out to bid in January of this year and saw a 47.9% increase in its rates. Derry Township in Dauphin County saw an almost 90% increase in their rates when they bid in February. Shiremastown saw the most dramatic increase going from a flat fee of $47.13/quarter to $107.20/quarter!

If Borough Council were to select one of the flat fee options, that fee would be added to a resident's Borough utility bill, along with water, sewer, and stormwater.

Looking ahead, Borough staff will also research into the cost of potentially bringing trash and recycling collection in-house in future years in potentially control costs.

Again, no decision has been made yet. They will discuss again at next week's Council meeting and possibly vote. They have until August 20 to take action.

Carlisle Borough Committed to Excellence in Community Service
Carlisle Borough 53 West South Street 717-249-4422 Mon-Fri: 7:30am - 4:30pm