FORT WAYNE – National Serv-All made a strong bid Wednesday to keep Fort Wayne’s garbage and recycling contract.
The city’s current waste hauler was one of five companies to submit bids to the Fort Wayne Board of Public Works for various parts of more than $8 million worth of city work.
Serv-All was the only company to submit bids for every piece of the contract, which was broken into disposal of garbage, disposal of recycling, collection of garbage and collection of recycling. The company appeared to have the lowest prices on all parts of the contract, but city officials said they must examine the intricacies of the proposals before commenting on who might be awarded contracts.
The length of the contracts depends on the service but can extend for up to 10 years.
Bob Kennedy, city director of public works, said he was pleased with the results, partly because the prices will likely prevent the city from having to drastically change its monthly garbage fee. Residents currently pay $11.24 a month for unlimited garbage and recycling collection.
“Overall this looks like it’s been a very good process for the city of Fort Wayne,” Kennedy said.
One small example showing Serv-All’s desire to keep the contract is the price the company would charge to empty the public trash cans throughout the city. Among the bidders, the price per collection ranged from $3 to $15 for the other companies, but Serv-All offered to do it for free. Even with that service, its per-household price was lower than the other company’s proposals.
The bids come a year after the city had to scrap its plans to award the garbage contract to startup company Earth First after Serv-All raised legal concerns over the bidding process.
The process was the same one used to select Serv-All for its current contract.
Earth First was one of the companies that bid on the city’s contract, but its prices appear higher than those submitted by Serv-All.
The city signed a one-year extension with Serv-All and began a lengthy review of its garbage services with a committee of residents, City Council members and the consulting firm Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc.
Kennedy said hiring the firm helped create better garbage and recycling contracts for residents. For example, the new recycling processing contract will require the city to receive half the profits from the sale of the recycled items collected from residents.
The submitted proposals also likely mean residents will switch to a single large recycling container instead of having to separate metal and glass from paper and cardboard. The bidders’ prices to continue with two bins or switch to one large bin were almost identical.
This means the new program, designed to increase recycling participation, would not dramatically increase costs for residents.
The bids also showed the city would see little if any savings if it reduces bulk-item collection to one time a month. Currently, the city offers unlimited collection of large items, such as couches and other furniture.
The committee will meet tonight to review the bids, and Kennedy said members could make recommendations on which firm to hire. He said that recommendation will likely be presented to the City Council in August.
The new contracts are expected to start in January.
