Nether Providence Township Commissioners have put the brakes on the prospects for a combined trash and recycling contract for the township. The vote was 4 to 3 along party lines, to include recycling only alternatives in a request for bids from companies.
A task force of citizen volunteers appointed to study the issue had urged the board to at least consider awarding a contract to a single firm that could perform the curbside collection of waste and recyclables, the idea being the move could result in economies of scale and lower costs.
When the board recently discussed sending out a request for proposals to potential contractors, GOP board members made it clear they did not want the combined trash-recycling approach to be an option.
Republican Commissioners instead voiced support for continuing on with the current system, which involves residents contracting with one of multiple trash haulers serving the municipality and a single firm — currently Suburban Waste services — handling the pickup of recyclables.
Commissioner Mike Dougherty repeated views he had expressed at previous meetings that he had heard no complaints about the existing trash-collection system. He said the focus should be on making the recycling program cheaper and better.
Under the township’s present contract with Suburban Waste, each household pays $68 annually for recycling pickups.
Among the recycling options to be considered are signing a new contract with Suburban Waste, hiring a new contractor or bringing the service in-house, with township public works employees doing the recycling collections. Before Suburban won the job, the curbside pickups were handled by municipal crews.
The vote came on the heels of a board decision in April to not ask residents about combined trash-recycling collections through a survey. The board’s four Republicans were not in favor of the survey, while its three Democratic members supported querying residents on the issue.
