Recycling was a big topic at Town Meeting on Monday, with Swampscott residents learning more about the upcoming contracts and ensuring the town has the resources it needs to strike a deal.
“The town has been negotiating a new trash and recycling contract for a long time now,” Finance Chair Eric Hartmann said.
Swampscott’s contract with Republic Services expires July 1. Under the current contract, Swampscott pays $1.1 million for Republic Services’ work, along with tipping fees of $108 per ton for trash disposal and $85 per ton for recycling, according to Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta
Town Administrator Nick Connors said in January that the town had interviews with Republic Services, Waste Management, Casella and Capital Waste Services. It is unclear following discussion on Monday as to which company the town is moving forward with.
“One of the requirements in the contract – that is not quite yet signed but is coming down to short strokes – is a requirement to have new recycling bins for every house, every residence,” Hartmann said.
Rather than using a variety of recycling bins, the town would move to a standardized bin compatible with automated collection trucks. Trash will be automated at the beginning of the new contract, Connors said.
Hartmann said the options included paying for the recycling bins outright through free cash, as recommended by the Finance Committee and later approved by Town Meeting members. The other options were to bond the cost over five years or lease the bins from the vendor for over three, five or seven years, “which implied interest rates that were double than what we could get if we bought them ourselves,” Hartmann said.
“The Finance Committee agreed that the best option is to use free cash,” Hartmann said. “This is a one time event. It’s not a recurring expense. It’s kind of what free cash is used for.”
Connors said officials are deciding between 65- and 96-gallon recycling bins, though he suggested the larger option would better prevent overflow issues. A 96-gallon bin is about three times the size of the existing barrels. Residents will also have the option to purchase a second barrel, as well as participate in a pay-as-you-throw program.
Wayne Spritz, a Select Board member and former chair of the Waste Advisory Committee, said the town will develop a take-back program, though residents can also repurpose their current bins for uses such as yard waste.
On Monday, Town Meeting members voted to transfer $330,000 from free cash to the replacement carts and parts line to purchase recycling carts during the current fiscal year.
During consideration of Article No. 4, Town Meeting members also approved an amended appropriation tied to the upcoming recycling contract.
“The budget that was originally printed the warrant – when that was printed we didn’t know where that was headed,” Hartmann said. “Now we’re much closer to closing this deal, and we need to add an additional $206,980 to that line item.”
Connors noted that the contract that the town has had in place was for about ten years. The upcoming contract is expected to introduce costs that “never existed in the past.”
“The contract going forward introduces costs for recycling that never existed in the past, costs for fuel that did not exist in the past,” Connors said. “Obviously the automation versus manual is different in cost based on which direction we choose to go as a community. We’ve negotiated for a number of months and have worked closely with our DP technical assistance, and I really want to highlight that the Solid Waste Advisory Committee spent time, even prior to my arriving here, understanding the market, understanding the players in the market and what might be available.”
That said, going forward, the town has a tipping fee for recycling plus 80% of the value of anything the company resells.
“As long as we continue to do everything we can to put the recycling in and make our best efforts as a community, we will save more and more money off of that tipping cost,” Connors said. “We are all saving money individually.”
