With a new 10-year solid waste management contract with Casella Waste Systems approved by the City Council on Monday evening, the future of recycling remains uncertain for the city.

The existing contract with the company includes no additional cost to collect recyclable materials, but the new contract comes with a hefty price tag for recycling. 

The contract includes a phased transition from manual curbside collection to automated collection and the usage of totes, casting doubt on the fate of the city's distinctive purple bags.

Under the new agreement, which begins on July 1, 2024, Casella will transport the city’s waste to the Wheelabrator waste-to-energy facility in Penacook, owned by WIN Waste Innovations, rather than the North Country Environmental Services landfill in Bethlehem, which is over 80 miles away.

The 10-year contract includes a provision that mandates the city adopt an automated collection system by July 1, 2028, following a two-year pilot that starts on or before July 1, 2026, as proposed by Casella.

“The industry has moved to automated rather than manual collection, which makes sense simply looking at the labor market challenges that all industries have experienced,” said Chip Chesley, the director of General Services. “We believe that this is the last contract that the city will have that includes a manual curbside collection for at least part of its term.”

During the pilot program, four trucks will be designated for curbside waste collection from over 12,000 residences within the city. One of these trucks will be equipped with an automated collection mechanism with an extended arm, which will pick up bins and empty them. Residents will continue using the purple pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) bags during the pilot phase.

Although accepted as the best option forward, the automated collection system raised some concerns among the city council members and the general public.

Ron Rayner, a retired environmental engineer, expressed his concerns over the efficiency of recycling with the new system, which entails using two totes – a 94-gallon tote for recyclables and a 64-gallon bin for trash. He said avoiding “abuse with putting non-recyclables in recyclable containers” could be a problem.

“I believe we should cap the purple bag fee at what it is and pull out the remainder [amount] from taxation as time goes,” Rayner said.

Another concern raised was about the functionality of the automated collection truck during the winter season when it comes to picking up the bins. Byron Champlin, an at-large-councilor, said that non-traditional houses would need to find a level spot to place the containers, as the city has berms that are around two and a half feet high instead of a grassy curb during the winter months.

Chesley assured councilors that by making some adjustments and refinements, the concerns could be resolved. He pointed out that automated collection has functioned efficiently in other cities like Boston, which also has narrow streets and similar rates of snowfall.

Members of the solid waste advisory committee consider the current contract with Casella, which is set to expire on June 1, 2024, as the best deal in the region due to its low prices. However, with the new contract, the city expects disposal costs to increase from approximately $70/ton to about $100/ton, and collection rates to be higher due to increases in fuel and labor costs.

The disposal costs will be $70.51 per ton next year and rise to $90 per ton the following year.

Moreover, recycling, which was free under the current contract, will also increase to $100/ton due to the volatility in the recycling market.

According to Adam Clark, the General Services Administration division manager, despite making adjustments, the costs were still on the rise. He anticipates that the new solid waste contract will add roughly $1 million to the budget for the fiscal year 2025.

The approved Casella contract for curbside municipal solid waste collection involves negotiated proposals, with a starting rate of $875,000 for the first year. Over the course of 10 years, the rate gradually increases to around $1,500,000. The totes will be provided to the city by Casella.

Supporting the city’s choice of waste-to-energy for solid waste management as the “lesser of two evils,” Meredith Cooley, President of Concord Greenspace, urged the city council to prioritize waste reduction and educating the public.

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