City Council workshop to review recommendations on curbside waste, recycling collection

posted on 9/3/2024

The future of the city's curbside trash and recycling collection and disposal will be the topic of an upcoming City Council workshop on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

At the workshop, the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) will present its findings and recommendations to the City Council on how the city should proceed at the end of its current curbside collection and disposal contract. The city's five-year contract with Waste Management, Inc., expires at the end of the 2025 fiscal year on June 30, 2025.

At its Aug. 7 meeting following months of review, SWAC unanimously endorsed multiple recommendations to present to the City Council: continue the practice of contracting out curbside collection; switch to a toter system and phase out the current pay-as-you-throw bags; and utilize the utility model to fund collection and disposal costs. SWAC also endorsed extending the city's contract with Waste Management for seven years after receiving a proposal at its July meeting.

Since July 2022, SWAC members have been investigating future collection options, including whether the city should take over curbside collection instead of contracting it out as the city once did and as Portsmouth and Durham do now. City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. asked the committee to study the issue, stating the city faces fewer competitive contractors willing to bid on the service. When the collection and disposal service was last put out to bid in 2019, there were fewer bidders than expected, and the lowest bid added a million more per year in disposal costs than the previous contract: a $400,000 increase in solid waste and $600,000 in recycling disposal costs.

At the recommendation of SWAC, the city sought an outside expert consultant to review industry trends and provide a cost analysis and recommendations through a feasibility study. Conducted in 2023, the consultant presented the study’s final report to the Council in January. The report recommended retiring the PAYT bags in favor of a toter system – one for trash and one for recycling. Toters allow for collection utilizing trucks with manual loading arms, which the industry is moving towards as it reduces labor costs and improves worker safety. The consultant also recommended the city take over curbside collection through purchasing or leasing vehicles.

Following the report, the City Council tasked the SWAC to review the consultant's findings and make recommendations to the City Council on how to proceed at the contract’s end. At SWAC's recommendation, the Council also authorized the City Manager to negotiate a contract extension with Waste Management for the City Council's consideration, allowing the city time to build out the infrastructure of a curbside program and/or implement a toter system if needed. To assist SWAC's decision-making progress, the committee created an ad hoc committee that met frequently to study the issue, updating SWAC regularly. 

At SWAC's July 18 meeting, Waste Management presented a two-year extension proposal with an option to extend it an additional five years with a conversion to toters; the proposal’s pricing will hold through the end of the 2024 calendar year. The first two years of the extension continue the current PAYT model.

SWAC endorsed utilizing the utility model to offset the revenue loss caused by ending the PAYT model. Currently, solid waste and collection costs are funded through the PAYT system; recycling collection is funded through the general fund. One concern of SWAC is ensuring the city’s curbside collection pricing is competitive with private haulers. 

The workshop will be held in Council Chambers at City Hall, beginning at 7 p.m., on Sept. 4. To view the agenda, click here.