LEWISTON — Single-stream recycling, paired with traditional household trash collections, could wind up saving the city $30,000 more each year.
Public Works Director David Jones said he planned to bring a resolution to councilors next week asking them to support keeping trash collections in Lewiston the same as they are now but changing the city’s recycling program in favor of a single-sort program.
“I suggest it’s time for us to get out of the blue bin business,” Jones told city councilors at a workshop Tuesday night.
If councilors approve changing the city’s recycling program, it would be up to the city’s Finance Committee to award recycling and waste hauling contracts. The current low bidder for waste hauling is Casella subsidiary Pine Tree Waste, which bid $517,140 for fiscal year 2012.
The low bidder for single-sort recycling is Auburn’s Almighty Waste, which bid $198,989 for fiscal year 2012.
Combined with costs for annual fall leaf and Christmas tree collections, and for collecting trash and recycling at city buildings and schools, the program would cost the city $798,897 per year.
The city is on track to pay $821,168 for the current fiscal year which ends June 30. Based on the bids the city received, the current program would cost the city $836,211 in fiscal year 2012, which begins July 1.
Jones said he was surprised by all of the bids.
“We were expecting things to get much more expensive, based on what we were hearing around,” Jones said. Estimates last summer suggested the city could end up paying $200,000 more for the same program it currently offers.
“I think what made the difference was we had more bidders,” Jones said. The city had four contractors bid: Pine Tree Waste, Almighty Waste, Waste Management of Hampton, N.H., and Blow Brothers of Old Orchard Beach.
“There was a little competition there, and I think that convinced everyone to come in a little lower than we expected,” he said.
The bids looked at three different kinds of collections; ones identical to the current program, single-stream recycling and automated systems.
Single-stream recycling lets residents put all of their recyclables into a single trash container. It’s dumped into a truck and then taken to a plant for sorting.
It also lets residents recycle more. All kinds of plastics would be recyclable, as would green and brown glass.
“We pay less and we get to recycle more?” Councilor John Butler said. “That’s my option right there.”
The automatic option turned out to be much more expensive, requiring the vendor to provide at least two heavy-duty trash cans to each residence. A special truck picks up each bin and empties it. The driver never has to leave the truck, meaning fewer workers are needed.
“And it tends to be cleaner,” Jones said. “The communities that have it tend to really like it.”
But that program would have increased costs by $625,000 to $1.4 million per year.
Mayor Larry Gilbert asked if the automated program might be cheaper if residents purchase the bins themselves. Each bin costs about $65, and Gilbert said the city might be able to help them spread those costs over several years.
“Then, you get the bins and you get the cleaner program,” Gilbert said. “To me, that’s worth paying. It would make a great deal of sense to have that program in place.”
Jones said staff had not considered having residents purchase their own bins for the automatic program and did not know how much that would cost.
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