Weekly comments from Dale Martin

Dale Martin
City Manager
Fernandina Beach
June 23, 2017 1:00 a.m.

City Manager Dale Martin

An issue for consideration in next year’s budget is the City’s solid waste collection contract. The City’s current provider, Advanced Disposal, has served the City for several years. While, in general, the current pricing is apparently in line with market prices, the fact that the contract has not been competitively bid for many years has led the City Commission to solicit new proposals. The current agreement with Advanced Disposal Services Stateline LLC, as codified by City of Fernandina Beach Ordinance 2012-12 (which amended Ordinance 2008-14) expires on June 30, 2018.

The City intends to commence the process with a City Commission workshop on August 15. At this workshop, issues related to solid waste collection and the specifications of the proposed terms will be considered. Several issues have already been developed for review by Mr. Jeremiah Glisson (Fleet/Facilities Director; coordinates solid waste collection activities) and Ms. Wanda Weaks (Purchasing Agent; prepares the formal Request for
Proposals/Qualifications).

Some of the issues that require consideration are the distribution of new garbage and recycling carts, the number of collections each week, any restrictions upon the hours of collection, and commercial collection activities (especially downtown).

New features that the City wishes to consider (at this point) are the provision and maintenance of solar-powered garbage and recycling collectors to support downtown commercial operations as well as a smaller collection truck to service more confined areas of the City, such as downtown and certain neighborhoods like Amelia Park). When garbage collection was an internal city function, the City had such a vehicle and its use provided for better collection in those areas.

The City will also review the internal operations of its yard waste collection site. These operations are a heavy drain on limited city resources. The plan is to transition yard waste disposal operations to the next contractor.

The City’s recycling program will present significant challenges to most any hauler. In general, the revenues from recyclable collection have been significantly diminished in relation to the cost of such collection. The open market for recycled material is nowhere near as robust as is the past. Personal preferences and technology, as demonstrated by the proliferation of commercially-bottled water, have also had a marked impact: the bottles are now constructed so light that the bulk required to reach a weight of reasonable value is cost-prohibitive.

One of the heaviest products associated with recycling is a glass bottle. Apparently, the market for recycled glass is similarly low as with other recyclables. The weight of glass bottles significantly raises collection costs. Because of those costs, disposal in a traditional landfill is substantially less than a return to a recycling center. As margins become smaller, it can be awfully tempting to simply dump in the landfill instead of at the recycling center. This is a national trend (reduced revenues for recycling, not dumping in the landfill), not a Fernandina Beach or Florida issue.

In many states, deposits are charged on bottles. The charges and the applicable products vary from state to state. When I lived in Michigan, at ten cents per bottle or can, not many bottles or cans were strewn around; in Connecticut, at five cents, it was easier to dispose of the bottles and cans at the local recycling center. Merchants, in general, do not support the implementation of deposits, since more transfers and reporting to state authorities is required. The on-site collection points tended to be unkempt and often plagued by inoperable machines. When deposits were not claimed by customers, those funds were distributed among the collection sites and the state. I am not aware of any efforts to implement such deposits in Florida.

Will single-stream recycling (throwing everything in one container) continue? Will future recycling efforts require us to re-think how and what we recycle? Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, it was an incredible national effort to create a recycling culture; to undo those behaviors now would be problematic. How the collection contractors alter the financial model of recycling will be interesting to follow over the next few years.

The intent of the City is to award the next contract by the end of the calendar year. With the contract officially expiring next June, the six months available before the start of the next contract will enable the next contractor to adequately prepare to service the City: staffing, equipment, training, familiarization, etc.

At recent conferences, interest in servicing Fernandina Beach is high among several contractors. I expect that interest will continue to grow and hopefully result in efficient and cost-effective services to the residents and businesses of Fernandina Beach.

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Dave Lott
Dave Lott(@dave-l)
6 years ago

Other issues that I am sure will be included in the evaluation process include: support/pricing of waste management services around special events (i.e. Shrimp Festival); customer service complaint levels; overall service level metrics, etc. Advanced has done a very good job over the years and successfully avoided a competitive bid process by renegotiating their contract a year or two before expiration due to their highly favorable service/pricing in the community. But the recycle market has changed tremendously as Dale noted and it will be interesting to see how the bid process turns out. From having lived in a number of other areas, the twice weekly pickup, single stream collection and unlimited yard waste pickup services enjoyed by City residents has been a bargain from a pricing standpoint and a much cleaner community.

Nannette Mroz
Nannette Mroz (@guest_49099)
6 years ago

Please do not support putting recyclables in a landfill site simply because it’s more “cost effective”. This planet cannot afford our contribution to that location.

Joanne Murphy
Joanne Murphy (@guest_49101)
6 years ago

I have been very happy with Advance’s service. The men are very curious and helpful in picking up our trash and lawn clippings. I have friends that live in neighborhoods out of the city and they complain about it all the time. So that should be a consideration when evaluating a new company.

I also think we can go to recycle collection every two weeks. That might make it more cost effective.