The system would use automated trucks powered by an alternative fuel like compressed natural gas.
No decision has been made on whether to require haulers to separately collect yard waste.
Mayor Jean Stothert gave an update Tuesday on the city’s progress in putting together the parameters for the next waste collection contract.
While the administration will issue the request for bids, the City Council will vote on the 10-year contract. It will go to the lowest and best bidder.
The request for bids is still being developed. But Stothert said she wants to bid the contract two ways: One would commingle waste. Another would consider picking up yard waste separately.
Stothert has said in the past that she favors collecting yard waste and trash together, citing the cost and other factors. But more recently she has indicated that the decision doesn’t have to be either-or.
“The cost of yard waste collection will certainly be a factor as we select this new contractor,” Stothert said Tuesday.
The decision on a new contract will affect 145,000 households across the city and is expected to about double the cost of the current contract. The city pays its current hauler, Waste Management, about $16 million a year.
The new contract could top a half-billion dollars over 20 years, said Mike Miller, a vice president of SCS Engineers, which is helping to develop the request for bids. (The 10-year contract would have the option for two five-year extensions.)
That figure doesn’t include fees paid to the Douglas County landfill.
Under state law, Omaha residents don’t pay a separate charge for garbage service, as residents of some areas do. The service is wrapped into the city budget. The city has historically worked with a private contractor to provide the service.
Omaha’s contract with Waste Management expires at the end of 2020. But city officials have said they hope to put the new contract out to bid this year.
Stothert said the city can’t find a company that wants to bid on the “old, antiquated system” the city currently uses — even Waste Management. “Industry standards have changed,” she said.
Under the changes outlined Tuesday, the city would be served by trucks equipped with automated arms. Semi-automated trucks would be used in areas with narrower streets. Workers would no longer manually throw trash into the truck.
Meanwhile, residents could have as many as three 96-gallon carts — one each for garbage, yard waste and recyclables, or one for recycling and two for combined garbage and yard waste.
To read the full story, visit http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/the-future-of-omaha-trash-collection–gallon-covered-carts/article_63a7f3ec-3f94-5e66-9db4-33ec784429d8.html.