The 10-year contracts with Recology and Waste Management will see the city pay out an estimated $850 million and will require both companies to use only trucks powered by renewable fuels or electricity.
SPU last signed major contracts for solid-waste pickup in 2008, choosing CleanScapes and Waste Management. In 2011, CleanScapes merged with Recology, and the resulting company now does business as Recology.
The two contractors collect garbage, recyclables and compost from all of Seattle’s residents, garbage from all of its businesses and garbage and recyclables from city containers in public spaces.In 2017, they collected a combined 418,000 tons of garbage, recyclables and waste, according to a council memo.
With the existing contracts set to expire in March 2019, SPU issued a request for proposals.
There were four bidders and an internal-evaluation committee recommended Seattle stick with the incumbents.
The new contracts together are about $5 million cheaper per year than the existing contracts, said Hans Van Dusen, SPU’s solid-waste contracts manager.The contracts, which will begin in April 2019, say the companies’ primary fleets must by then consist exclusively of trucks no older than 2018 and powered by 100 percent renewable fuels.
Recology’s fleet will use diesel sourced from animal fats and vegetable oils. Waste Management will use natural gas certified as renewable based on contributions to the natural-gas grid from landfills.To read the full story, visit https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-to-ink-850m-in-new-trash-collection-contracts/.