Council approves eight-year waste collection contract, weekly collection will remain for now

by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative

After hearing the rationale from Town staff, Essex Council opted to award the Request or Proposal for municipal waste collection services to GFL for an eight-year period, commencing May 2, 2024. There is an option to extend for an additional two-years.

  Administration was directed to return with the appropriate by-law for Council’s consideration to approve entering into an agreement for the provision of Municipal Waste Collection Services.

  In addition, the estimated budget overage for the period of May to December 31 of this year be funded from the Garbage Levy, which will be adjusted for the fiscal budget year to fund the deficit of $191,849.13.

  In 2022, a new contract for waste services was awarded to GFL Environmental, which expired May 1, 2024.

  There was no option to renew the contract, Kate Giurissevich, Director of Corporate Services, explained to Council, as the political environment at the time was heavily debating a regional-approach to waste collection.

  That regionalization – which would have become a responsibility of the County of Essex – ended up not moving forward.

  In light of that information, the Town of Essex posted a Request for Proposal (RFP), which closed April 3. That gave the Town one-month to evaluate submissions.

  With the Town to be mandated to participate in the new organics program – a weekly pick-up program beginning in 2025, administered through the Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority (EWSWA) – this RFP for Essex’s waste collection asked for two separate bids. The first for the option of weekly collection, the second for bi-weekly.

  The weekly organics pick-up program will collect items composted more easily, Giurissevich explained, which will then be brought to a processing facility. This will come with a cost.

  “Ultimately, we will need to find some sort of cost-savings for our residents with this new levy that will be implemented onto them,” she said, adding that is why the Town wanted to explore the bi-weekly option.

  The Town did solicit bids for waste collection from vendors from London to Windsor for competition.

  “We know from all of our neighbouring municipalities that most are only receiving one bid from the same contractor,” Giurissevich said, adding that has been commonplace for the last ten-years.

  The Town still only received one bid on the RFP, Giurissevich explained. “We also did an additional step, where we met with the sole-bidder and attempted to negotiate with them.”

  What the bidder presented to the Town was an option that if it entered into a longer-term contract, it could look at some cost-savings.

  Originally, the RFP requested a five-year term contract. The weekly pick-up cost totalled $1,447,721.82 per year, while the bi-weekly came in at $1,032,995.23, for a savings of $414,726.26.

  What the bidder proposed for the bi-weekly pick-up is around what the Town currently pays for weekly pick-up, giving Council an idea of how much the contract has gone up, she explained.

  The bidder’s second proposal for the longer, eight-year term came in at $1,373,341.69 for weekly pick-up per year, or $982,114.95 for bi-weekly, for a savings of $391,226.74.

  The Town could save around $74,000 a year with the eight-year contract for the weekly pick-up, or around $50,000 with the bi-weekly.  

  Through longer contracts, municipalities tend to reap cost-savings in years six-through eight.

  Last month, the Town of Essex issued a questionnaire to residents asking about preference on waste collection, recognizing weekly pick-up would lead to a tax increase.

  “The results were very split,” Giurissevich said, noting 52% of respondents were in favour of maintaining the weekly pick-up over a bi-weekly option. Some commented that perhaps weekly should take place during the summer months only.

  What was learned was that residents require more information about the incoming 2025 organics program.

  Administration recommended the Town of Essex remain with weekly waste collection, until at least December 31, 2024. The Town really should not switch to bi-weekly until the organics program kicks-off, which is slated for the fall of 2025. Entering into an eight-year contract was also recommended.

  The vendor would need six-months of notice if the frequency of pick-up is changed.

  “We don’t want any drastic service-level changes right now,” Giurissevich said. “We need to get more information from the public on what they expect, but we also need to make sure we are really considering the impact of organics and what that means to our residents.”

  An educated decision can be made at that point, she said.

  “What we have seen in the last 10-years across Essex County is very high and drastic price increases for the collection of garbage,” Giurissevich added.

  In addition, she noted the longer-term contract for the Town would align with the organic contract expiration, which could potentially have other vendors in the market at that time or perhaps offer opportunities of economies of scale.

  Waste collection, she added, is identifiable on the tax bill as the garbage levy.

  The cost for the remaining eight-months of 2024 for waste collection is $915,607.13. Remaining in the Budget is $723,758. This leaves an unfunded amount of nearly $192,000. That means the garbage levy rate must be adjusted from the previously approved 2024 rate, equating to an approximate increase of $32.26 for the year for the average household in Essex.

  The average cost for waste collection for weekly waste pick-up would be around $222 per year. Bi-weekly, would be $214 per year, Giurissevich explained.

  Councillor Katie McGuire-Blais noted $8.00 a year does not seem to be a major difference between the bi-weekly and weekly pick-up.

  Initially, with organics to come in the future, Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley said the service has to stay where it is for now.

  Preliminary costing for the organics program, Giurissevich shared from EWSWA, is estimated to be an additional $106 to $171 per year per household, not including the processing charges, to be completed at a facility in Leamington. That would come into effect in the fall of 2025.

  If the Town reduced waste collection to bi-weekly at the same time organics is produced, it was estimated the average additional cost per household would be a net increase of around $114 per house, including processing and savings of the waste collection service reduction, she said.

  Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley further motioned that Essex Council direct himself and Mayor Sherry Bondy, as the County reps, to ask County Council to agree to fund the cost of regional organic waste collection and processing program through the County of Essex property tax levy.

  He explained the organics program is a County initiative, so the cost should be included on the County levy, instead of the Town’s mill rate.

  That carried with only Councillor Rodney Hammond opposed.

  Essex was not legislated to participate in the organics pick-up, due to population. A County resolution required Essex’s participation, Giurissevich relayed.