Trash agency to open bids for transportation

TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y.

>> The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency on Friday will open bids from companies that want the agency’s next five-year transportation contract.

The opening is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the agency’s office at 999 Flatbush Road (state Route 32) in the town of Ulster.

The deal ultimately could affect tipping fees — the amount haulers pay the agency to bring loads of solid waste to the Route 32 site. Agency Executive Director Tim said the the current transportation contract, with Syracusebased Mr. Bults Inc., accounts for about $55 of the current $103-per-ton fee.

The transportation contract will include the cost of fuel for solid waste to be trucked from the agency’s Ulster facility to the Seneca Meadows landfill in central New York.

Rose said the Resource Recovery Agency hasn’t “gotten any formal bids in yet” but that’s “not surprising, because it’s a big bid. What normally happens is they hand-deliver it ... so you might see three, four or five trucking companies here.”

Later this year, the agency will seek bids from landfills and other disposal sites to which Ulster County’s solid waste can be brought. Seneca Meadows is nearing its capacity and is expected to close in 2025, so new sites are being sought.

For 2019, the agency has budgeted $3.3 million for hauling and $2.9 million for disposal of its waste.

Rose said daily truck traffic from the Ulster site to Seneca Meadows varies based on the amount of construction and demolition material the Resource Recovery Agency receives.

“It could be as low as 10 or 12 [trucks] in February, which is our slowest month of the year, to maybe as high as 16 to 18 trucks,” he said.

Rose also said the solid waste trucked out can vary widely from day to day. Last week, for example, the amount totaled 532 tons on Tuesday and 640 tons on Friday, he said.