Northern York Region municipalities pinpoint what new garbage collector must provide

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 4, 2016
By Chris Simon

Northern six municipalities should have some idea of exactly what they want out of their new waste collection contract within the next month or so, according to Newmarket's public works director, Chris Kalimootoo.

Representatives from Aurora, Newmarket, King, East Gwillimbury, Georgina and Whitchurch-Stouffville - commonly referred to as the N6 municipalities - will meet to discuss a Request for Proposals for a new waste collection contract this month.

The RFP should be released by March and awarded sometime between June and September. The new contract will take effect in September 2017.

"This is an essential service we provide," Newmarket Councillor Tom Hempen said. "These are things people really see and they expect a high level of service."

The RFP is expected to keep collection relatively in line with current practices in Newmarket. Frequency of pick-up will likely be set at every week for recycling and organics and every two weeks for garbage. The number of bags per household is expected to remain as is - though Newmarket has asked for across the board two-bag limit costing to be included in bids.

"The municipality must set out very clearly what the service levels are ... and what we're looking forward to," Mayor Tony Van Bynen said. "We need to set out what we want done. We need to focus on the outcomes, as opposed to finding solutions. Let's leave that up to the contractor."

A new contract would likely run for eight years, with two one-year options for renewal. It may also require the contractor's collection trucks to always be less than 10 years old, and there could be an option for electronic waste pick-up up to four times per year. There would also be several customer service enhancements over the existing agreement - an apparent sore spot for many Newmarket councillors following the winter of 2013-2014, where heavy snowfall, extremely cold temperatures and an ice storm caused significant service delays for the current contractor, Green For Life, in several N6 municipalities - and performance penalties. A GPS monitoring system would also be implemented in an effort to track trucks.

It also appears residents will be able to report broken or misplaced recycling and organics bins to the new contractor. New bins would then be delivered directly to the affected home, Kalimootoo said.

"We've created service level criteria within the RFP that the contractor must follow," he said, noting monthly quality control reports will be sought from the new contractor. "We're going to be talking about fleet in the RFP. We're going to have newer trucks."

There will be a cost-sharing formula in place as part of the new contract, with each municipality agreeing to pay based on the amount of waste they generate.

The current contract has been in place since 2007 and costs Newmarket about $2.53 million to administer each year. However, it is expected to save the town about $2.26 million over its lifespan, when compared to the town's previous waste collection deal, Kalimootoo said.

"We have learned a lot; it was one of the first N6 contracts developed," he said. "Efficiencies have been realized, but we can always improve. We had some bumps in the road. Through that, GFL has developed an action plan, which it has fully implemented."