Tag: garbage contracts

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Sustainable LivingTags , , , ,

New year, new garbage services for Santa Rosa

Kevin McCallum, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

For more information about Recology programs on the North Coast, visit www.recology.com/recology-sonoma-marin/

Santa Rosa’s new garbage hauler is rolling out plenty of changes for customers this New Year’s, including new plastic bins, new trucks and new rates to pay for it all.
Recology, the San Francisco-based garbage company, completed its purchase of The Ratto Group December 23, making it the dominant waste hauler on the North Coast.
Most Sonoma County residents and businesses will see few changes from the sale because Recology has merely taken over Ratto’s existing service contracts.
But beginning Jan. 1, the company began operating in Santa Rosa under a new 15-year contract that calls for sweeping new changes to the refuse service to 55,000 residential and commercial accounts.
The city hopes Recology will provide not only better service and accountability than its predecessor, but will help it achieve its environmental goals of increasing recycling and reducing the amount of garbage heading to the landfill.
“They really buy into the zero waste philosophy,” said Gloria Hurtado, deputy city manager. “They certainly have a track record of achieving good results in other communities.”Here’s a look at some of the changes in store for local garbage service under Recology.
Read more at: New year, new garbage services for Santa Rosa

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Sustainable LivingTags , ,

Windsor chooses new garbage company, rejecting its current hauler

Clark Mason, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
After months of back and forth, political opposition, a lawsuit and threats of more lawsuits, Windsor once has again chosen a garbage hauler — for the third time since May.
The saga represents a grueling first example of the process that other local cities, including Santa Rosa, are embarking on as they renew or re-evaluate curbside garbage contracts, most of which are with the same hauler, the Santa-Rosa-based Ratto Group, which is up for sale to a San Francisco company.
For many communities, the garbage contracts are among the most lucrative deals they hand out.
In Windsor, the deal is worth more than $56 million in revenue over 10 years to the company that came out on top Wednesday night.
The Town Council voted 4-1 to award the contract to a different hauler, Sonoma County Resource Recovery, owned by the San Rafael-based Garden City Group, Marin Sanitary Service Group and its president, Kevin Walbridge.
The decision dealt another rejection to the town’s current hauler, Windsor Refuse and Recycling — co-owned by the Ratto Group — which recently sued the town and claimed the bidding process was unfair.
Read more at: Windsor chooses new garbage company, rejecting its current hauler | The Press Democrat

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Sustainable LivingTags , , ,

After reversal, Windsor awards garbage contract to Green Waste, its first choice

Clark Mason, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
The high stakes question about which company would get Windsor’s garbage contract was finally settled Tuesday with the award going again to Green Waste Recovery Inc.
The 3-1 vote came a month after the Town Council first awarded, then rescinded a contract with the San Jose-based company because of political and legal hurdles associated with its proposed Petaluma recycling transfer station.
The final answer Tuesday was to fall back on its first decision after company representatives said they were looking to locate a transfer station closer to Windsor.“
We will not be proposing a transfer facility in Petaluma,” company spokeswoman Emily Finn said. An announcement about a new location is expected within weeks, she said. “On Day 1 we will have facilities north of Petaluma for recyclables.”
The prospect of garbage trucks on Highway 101 making a long trek from Windsor to San Jose — a distance of more than 100 miles — was one of the concerns raised by Councilman Dominic Foppoli, the lone vote against a contract with Green Waste.
But the lower residential rates and environmental practices of Green Waste earned it majority support.
Read more at: After reversal, Windsor awards garbage contract to Green Waste, its first choice | The Press Democrat

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Sustainable LivingTags , , , ,

Windsor to reconsider the town’s $52 million garbage contract 

Clark Mason, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Just when it seemed Windsor had a new garbage hauling company for the next 10 years, the Town Council has had a change of heart, upending a multimillion dollar deal it struck last month over one of the town’s most basic municipal functions.
The move reflects political and legal hurdles facing a proposed Petaluma recycling transfer station proposed by the new operator and comes as Santa Rosa weighs its options for a new garbage contract, one of the most lucrative services that local cities outsource.
The Windsor Council on Tuesday night voted 4-1 to reconsider the contract it awarded to Green Waste Recovery Inc., citing unresolved issues over the company’s proposed Petaluma transfer station, including its proximity to residences.
As a result, four other companies that initially bid for the contract will have another shot at hauling Windsor’s commercial and residential refuse and reaping at least $52 million in revenue over 10 years.
Read more at: Windsor to reconsider the town’s $52 million garbage contract | The Press Democrat

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Sustainable LivingTags , , ,

Oakland law firm demands Windsor review garbage contract proposals 

Kevin McCallum, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
An environmental law firm that helped shut down Sonoma County’s composting operation is now taking aim at efforts by Windsor and Santa Rosa to pick a new garbage company to serve their residents.
The Oakland-based firm Lozeau Drury last week sent an 83-page letter to Windsor demanding a full environmental review of the various proposals the town has received for its 10-year garbage contract.
Attorney Richard Drury, in a letter received just a few hours before the Windsor Town Council was set to meet April 19 to pick a new garbage hauler, argued the town had failed to review the impacts on air quality, greenhouse gases and neighbors of a planned facility in southwest Santa Rosa.“There are few decisions that a town can make that have more direct environmental impacts than the determination of how to handle its garbage,” Drury wrote in his letter.
The town had concluded no environmental review was needed. In light of the letter, town attorney Robin Donoghue urged a delay until the town could review it and respond appropriately.
The move drew a sharp rebuke from Councilwoman and Mayor Debra Fudge, who viewed it more as a bid to influence the town’s selection process than protect the environment.
“I saw the CEQA letter as an effort from someone associated with one of the haulers to try to blow up our process, and I’m not happy about it,” Fudge said.
Read more at: Oakland law firm demands Windsor review garbage contract proposals | The Press Democrat