Residential Solidwaste and Recycling Contract - 2023-2027

The Hampden Township Board of Commissioners awarded a new five year residential solidwaste and recycling contract to Waste Management, the lowest bidder.  The current three year residential solidwaste and recycling contract is set to expire on December 31, 2022.  The new contract was competitively bid with four waste haulers expressing interest in the Township’s contract.  The low bid was submitted by Waste Management, the current solidwaste and recycling hauler. 

The new quarterly service rate will be $98.94 or slightly more than a 17% increase from the expiring three year contract which had a rate lock.  The next lowest bid from a hauler was $137.55 per quarter, substantially more than what was bid by and awarded to Waste Management.

Prior to issuing the competitive bid documents, the Township sought input from numerous haulers on how best to provide the State mandated residential solidwaste and recycling services while keeping the fee as low as possible.  The bids were formatted requiring any prospective hauler to provide pricing for a minimum of a three year contract and alternatively a five year contract with fees being able to be specified for each year of the contract. 

Additionally, the Township bid included pricing for continuing collection of an unlimited volume of solidwaste and recycling verses limiting the volume of trash and recyclables to only what can fit in the contractor provided toters.  These options were included in the bid to see if limiting the volume of trash to be collected would materially impact the service fee. 

Finally, the contract was also amended from the current practice of allowing for unlimited weekly bulk item pickup from each property owner to one bulk item being collected each week from a property upon scheduling the collection from the hauler.

In the end, the price difference between limited and unlimited weekly collection of solidwaste and recycling was only $9.00 per quarter.  Therefore, the Board of Commissioners awarded a five year contract to Waste Management for unlimited weekly collection of solidwaste and recycling with residents being required to use the toters which are provided, free of charge, by the hauler; unlimited collection of bundled yard waste from March 1 to October 31 and one scheduled bulk item collected each week when a property owner schedules the collection directly through Waste Management. 

Throughout the entire five year contract, Hampden residents will be paying a service fee which is very competitive or lower than other municipalities in the Central PA region while maintaining a level of service which will reduce the tendency for individuals to illegally dump solidwaste and maximizing the current level of recycling based upon current market demand.  The new contract allows for additionally recyclable materials to be collected if the market demand for such an item materializes.