Few changes seen in new three-year trash contract

DOUGLASS (MONT.) >> The only change township residents should see when the new trash hauler takes over on Feb. 1 is that recyclables will now be picked up every week, instead of every other week.

The township will continue to use the system by which residents buy trash bags from the township, and thus only pay for what they throw away, and the price of those bags will not change — at least not this year, said Township Manager Peter Hiryak.

What has changed is the trash hauler.

On Jan. 17, the board of supervisors unanimously awarded a new three-year trash contract to Keystone Disposal, LLC to an annual price of $278,333.33 per year.

This represents a $22,333 increase over the current contract with Advanced Disposal.

Keystone out-bid four other bidders — Advanced Disposal, A.J. Blosenski, J.P. Mascaro & Son and Waste Management Inc. — to win the contract.

Its overall price for all three years, $835,000, is $72,535 lower than the next lowest bidder — Advanced Disposal — which holds both the collection and disposal contracts now expiring.

Advanced will continue to hold the disposal contract, charging $58.65 per ton at its Wester Berks Landfill, where the township’s trash is currently disposed. Advanced beat out the next lowest bid — Keystone — of $59.99 per ton

The contract were awarded after a second round of bidding.

The first round of bids in November were rejected by the township supervisors when the prices came in too high.

“We made it very complicated and the bids were all over, some by the ton, some flat fee, so we simplified the bid documents,” Hiryak explained after the meeting.

As a result, the township saved $30,000 from the last low bid to this one, he said.

Andrew Duncan, the township’s recycling coordinator who made the recommendation for the contract, said the delay in awarding the contract was due to the need to check references.

According to bid tabulation documents provided by Hiryak, references include a letter of reference from Skippack Township Manager Ted Locker; Lower Pottsgrove Township Manager Ed Wagner, who reported no complaints regarding the company’s “few commercial accounts” there; and North Coventry Township Manager Kevin Hennessey, who also reported no complaints reported to the township for the commercial contracts Keystone holds there.

The company intends to keep the current Wednesday/Thursday collection schedule and has nine collection vehicles and six employees to meet the terms of the contract, according to the tabulation documents.

Keystone will begin collections on Feb. 1, said Duncan.