Orange County NC Website
<br /> Comprehensive Review of <br /> S olid W aste Collection and Disposal Options <br /> <br /> <br />v2.1 39 10/22/12 <br />3.3 SUMMARY OF COMPARABL E RECYCLING P R OGRAM <br />OUTSOURCING COSTS <br />With this analysis, SCS reviewed bid costs recently solicited by Orange County for the <br />collections of materials managed by its recycling program to include: curbside residential <br />customers; commercial customers; multi-family customers; and, convenience centers. A bid <br />tabulation for these services was provided in an Orange County Board of Commissioners, Action <br />Agenda Item Abstract, dated April 17, 2012, presenting the renewal of the Urban Curbside <br />Recycling Services Contract. As discussed above, the contract was renewed with Waste <br />Industries for cost to the County of $2.96 per household per month, assuming the County <br />procured the collection carts. <br />By comparison, four (4) other reputable firms bid for the services with a range of costs to the <br />County of $4.00 to $5.24 per household per month, excluding the collection carts. Program <br />collections costs for the third-party vendor to provide the collection carts ranged from $4.26 per <br />household per month to $7.24 per household per month. <br />Notably, Orange County appears to be getting a good value from its current vendor, Waste <br />Industries. Furthermore, these recycling collection program bid costs represent that by <br />outsourcing a Town-only recycling program, the Town would not likely anticipate program cost <br />savings compared with the current Orange County program or a Town-operated program. In <br />addition, these materials collection bid costs do not include the material processing, marketing, <br />and market transportation costs currently provided by the Orange County program. Lastly, due <br />to the smaller material volumes anticipated from a Town-only recycling program, comparable <br />bid prices for Town-only collections are anticipated to be higher due to economies of scale. <br />3.4 SUMMARY FINDINGS <br />SCS recommends that the Town continue to participate with the County to provide recycling <br />services to its residents and businesses for the following reasons: <br /> A Town-operated program is estimated to cost $4.32 or greater for each single-family <br />household, per month, not including costs necessary for processing and transporting <br />materials to market. The County currently charges $4.33 per single-family household <br />per month. While the projected costs of a Town-operated recycling program is <br />approximately equivalent to the Orange County program, SCS suspects that any <br />improvements in these cost projections would not likely begin to cover the necessary <br />materials processing and transportation costs for the Town to manage the recyclables <br />collected from all 11,500 Town single-family households. Moreover, the County is <br />in the process of implementing single-stream recycling collection with roll-carts <br />which is projected to lower the County collection cost, and provide Town residents <br />with increased convenience (i.e., 95-gallon recycling collection carts) and the ability <br />to recycle additional materials without increasing its fees. <br /> Implementing additional layers of recycling service comparable to the Orange County <br />program (e.g., convenience centers, drop-off locations, multi-family collections, etc.)