WATERVILLE — The City Council is scheduled Tuesday to consider a proposal for Waterville to begin taking its solid waste and recycling to a location within the city rather than to Norridgewock, which would reduce transportation time and put less wear on municipal trucks.
The city now takes trash and recycling to Waste Management’s Crossroads Landfill in Norridgewock, but is proposing to take it to Pine Tree Waste Services, part of Casella Waste Systems on LaFleur Road, off Airport Road, in Waterville.
Mayor Jay Coelho said Monday the hope long term is the city can cut back to trash and recycling pickup four days a week instead of five, allowing more time for employees from the Public Works Department to do other work.
“Then the truck isn’t on the road every day and the roads aren’t getting beat up,” Coelho said. “If we go to four days, they can be doing something else.”
The contract with Pine Tree would begin this month and run until March 31, 2025. The contract rate for the first year would be $87 a ton for solid waste and $200 a ton for recycling. In year two, the rate would be $91.35 a ton for solid waste and $210 a ton for recycling.
The city now pays Waste Management $77 a ton for solid waste and $149.78 a ton for recycling, according to Public Works Director Matt Skehan.
The city’s contract with Waste Management expired last week and the recycling contract ends June 30. Waste Management delivers the city’s recyclables to Portland-based Ecomaine.
Skehan wrote in a memo to the City Council that the city averages 1,700 tons of solid waste and 475 tons of recycling annually. It takes an estimated 1 1/4 hours a day for a total of 6 1/4 hours a week to transport solid waste to Norridgewock. The cost for a truck and driver is $100 an hour, representing an estimated $32,500 annual cost for transportation, Skehan said.
The city received proposals from Pine Tree Waste and Waste Management for municipal solid waste and recycling disposal, with Waste Management proposing a one-year contract at $261 a ton, including $86 a ton for solid waste and $175 a ton for recycling. With transportation cost included, the total would be $253,950.
A two-year contract with Waste Management would be $270.52 a ton, including $92.02 a ton for solid waste and $178.50 a ton for recycling, with no commodity revenue. With transportation included, the cost would be $265,689.
Pine Tree Waste offered a one-year contract at $287 a ton, including $87 a ton for solid waste and $200 a ton for recycling. Including transportation, the total cost would be $233,900.
A two-year contract with Pine Tree would amount to $245,595.
Solid waste taken to Norridgewock is buried at its landfill. If the city were to use Pine Tree Waste, solid waste would be taken to LaFleur Road and then delivered to Penobscot Energy Recovery Co., also known as PERC, in Orrington, according to Skehan. PERC accepts about 175,000 tons of municipal solid waste for combustion to produce electricity for sale on the grid, Skehan said.
“Through the combustion process, PERC reduces the volume requiring landfull disposal,” Skehan wrote in the memo. “Also not figured is the potential for average commodity revenue (ARC). In 2002, the average ARC was $53.50/ton, for 2021, $91/ton.
“When considering all variables, it is the Department’s recommendation that we accept the two-year option with Pine Tree Waste. The contract and term will provide the city the time necessary to explore future options.”
In other matters Tuesday, councilors are expected to consider rezoning 74 Pleasant St. to allow Ware-Butler Building Supply to put offices at the former rectory of Sacred Heart Church.
The council is also slated to consider referring to the Planning Board for public hearing and recommendation a proposal to allow veterinary clinics in the Commercial-A zone, to allow Matt Townsend to open a veterinary practice on Waterville Commons Drive.
The council is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at The Elm at 21 College Ave.
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