
Photo by Erin Nelson
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Residential garbage cans line a portion of Round Hill Road in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on Thursday, July 9, 2020.
The Vestavia Hills City Council on Monday, July 13, is expected to vote on whether to hire AmWaste as the city’s new sanitation contractor to pick up garbage and recyclables, City Manager Jeff Downes said.
But details about how frequently garbage would be picked up and how recycling would be handled likely won’t be decided until late August or early September, Downes said after a public meeting Wednesday night.
AmWaste was the lowest responsible bidder for all the options upon which sanitation providers were asked to bid, Downes said. Going ahead and naming AmWaste as the provider for sanitation services would allow the company to begin purchasing equipment to ensure a smooth transition when the contract with Republic Services expires on Oct. 1, he said.
Republic submitted the highest bids of the four companies that submitted them, and the city has had a lot of complaints about service provided by Republic, Downes said.
The quality of service by Republic has been inconsistent, and the city has fined Republic from $6,000 per month to $12,000 per month due to poor service and a lack of responsiveness to problems, he said.
The city currently is paying Republic about $3.4 million a year for sanitation services. Continuing with the same type of service (garbage pickup twice a week and recycling pickup once a week) would cost $5.6 million with Republic, $3.74 million with Arrow Disposal or about $3.7 million with AmWaste, Downes said.
Switching to recycling pickup only twice a month would cost $5.7 million with Republic, $3.7 million with Arrow or $3.5 million with AmWaste. Switching to garbage pickup only once per week would cost $5.1 million with Republic, $4.4 million with Santek, $3.4 million with Arrow or $3.3 million with AmWaste. Going with AmWaste on that option would cost the city about $164,000 less than it currently pays.
Making recycling an optional subscription service paid directly by homeowners ($8.50 per month) would lower the cost for the city to $5 million with Republic, $3.4 million with Arrow or $3.2 million with AmWaste. Switching to once-a-week garbage pickup and subscription recycling would cost the city $4.5 million with Republic, $3.6 million with Santek, $2.95 million with Arrow or $2.4 million with AmWaste.
AmWaste also offered an option that none of the other service providers offered — allowing people to put their garbage and recycling in the same container and not have to separate them. AmWaste would contract with a company called RePower South that has facility in Montgomery that separates the items that can be recycled so residents don’t have to do it.
RePower South repurposes about 70% of the trash it receives and converts the rest to feedstock fuel as a replacement for coal in industrial and utility boilers, Downes said.
AmWaste would charge Vestavia Hills about $2.7 million a year to pick up everything together once a week and $3.4 million a year to pick up everything together twice a week. The first of those two options would save the city about $773,000 a year.
AmWaste doesn’t currently provide any residential service in the Birmingham area, but it does in Montgomery and Mobile counties and the cities of Pike Road and Saraland, as well as areas in Louisiana and Georgia, Downes said. The company would like to expand to the Birmingham area, he said. It has a transfer station in Chilton County that would help make that possible, he said.
Vestavia Hills officials have considered partnering with another city such as Hoover to perhaps achieve even more economies of scale. However, Hoover’s contract with Santek doesn’t expire for another year, and Vestavia needs to make a decision now, he said.
A partnership could be considered down the road, but “right now, we’re not focused on anything but Vestavia Hills,” he said.
City officials have checked AmWaste’s references and received very good reports about the customer service that AmWaste provides, Downes said.
Some people have expressed concerns about garbage being picked up only once per week, Downes said. AmWaste would provide each household in Vestavia Hills up to three full-size garbage carts with no charge and additional garbage carts for a nominal fee, he said.
On the financial end, going with AmWaste could save the city anywhere from $164,000 to $1 million a year, or cost anywhere from $55,000 to $235,000 more, depending on which level and type of service the city chooses, Downes said.
Bulk debris and yard waste pickup still would be provided within 10 business days of requests, he said.
Additionally, all AmWaste trucks are equipped with cameras and GPS trackers that provide real-time and historical location and speed data to eliminate guesswork about whether any streets or stops were missed, Downes said.
City officials are paying close attention to feedback from residents, he said. At least 140 people submitted comments on the topic on the Vestavia Hills Listens portal on the city’s website, and officials also are open to emails and phone calls, Downes said. Comments can be emailed to city.council@vhal.org.
Public information sessions were held for people to attend either in person or via Zoom on July 1 and July 8. Those sessions, with more details about bids received, were recorded and can be viewed on the city’s website here.
Councilman George Pierce said Wednesday night that it’s an important decision. “We want to make sure our citizens get the best bang for your buck.”