By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter
Northborough – Department of Public Works Director Scott Charpentier and Town Engineer Fred Litchfield discussed details of the town’s solid waste contract with the Board of Selectmen at their Feb. 11 meeting. The contract will be going out to bid.
“Market research conducted by Charpentier and Litchfield estimates that an increase to the FY20 solid waste budget could be anywhere in the $50,000 to $100,000 range,” according to a memo dated Feb. 5 from Litchfield to the town administrator and the board.
“Our solid waste collection contract is expiring at the end of this fiscal year. We’ve had a long standing contract with a good hauler,” Charpentier reported. “The recycling marketability has changed drastically and one of the big influencers was China changing some of their requirements in what they will accept and eliminating things that they won’t accept.”
Because the volatility of the recycling market is industry-wide, some changes need to be addressed in the contract, particularly with regard to recycling. Charpentier and Litchfield have researched what other communities are doing and what their contracts consist of.
“We came to the conclusion that the opportunity to isolate the volatility in a stand-alone contract for acceptance and processing of recycling materials and bidding out the collection may be in the best interest of the town,” Charpentier noted.
“We started talking to our hauler [Republic Services] and because they are assuming all the risk and have been taking a loss the last few years, the cost is quite high to maintain the program,” Litchfield noted.
“We have a long history with this ‘Pay as You Throw’ program and by the way, ‘Pay as You Throw’ is the model that the state wants every community to go with,” interjected Town Administrator John Coderre.
The town’s solid waste disposal is paid for by bag fees as well as a subsidy from the general tax base.
As such, recommendations from Litchfield and Charpentier include going out to bid for a new collection contract, maintaining “Pay as You Throw,” keeping bag prices the same (adjusting the subsidy) and maintaining the single stream recycling.
The issue of contamination in the recycle stream was brought up by Selectman Leslie Rutan as being problematic and the potential for rejection of loads and penalties to the town. It’s happening now.
Board Chair Dawn Rand said that she is comfortable with subsidizing the program as they have been and going out to bid as recommended.
After further discussion, the board agreed that the town should proceed with the recommendations as presented.