NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT The city's solid waste utility hopes to have a new curbside recycling contract provider in place early in 2020, officials announced at this months business plan update to City Council. The provider is responsible for picking up bins at about 21,000 residents in Medicine Hat as well as volumes from four drop off depots, like this one pictured on South Railway Street.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
The city hopes to hammer out a permanent contract for home pickup of recycling early in the new year.
Administrators with the solid waste department told council during an annual update of business plans last week that a tendering process is closed and they hope to make a selection and begin negotiations by mid-January.
Currently, North American waste collection company GFL Environmental is providing pickup service at the city’s 21,000 single-family residences as well as the city’s four drop-off locations.
That is on an interim contract that was signed after the city and original contractor, E60S, broke off talks on amending the year-old deal in September.
GFL took over home pickup in early November on an interim contract basis. It is also one of five national trash or recycling collection companies that downloaded bid packages advertised on Alberta’s municipal tendering service. Completed paperwork was due at the end of October.
“They might get it (a permanent contract), but they’ll have to win it,” Coun. Phil Turnbull told a community meeting in late November where the topic was discussed for about an hour.
Also receiving a bid packages were officials with Environmental 360 Solutions, which took over the contract in Medicine Hat when it bought original contract provider CanPak Environmental Services, of Red Deer.
E360S has approached several of the municipalities it operates in during late 2019 and argued that a rate increase is needed in light of upheaval in the global markets for recycled material.
Blocked from markets in China left the company operating at a substantial loss, officials told the News in October.
The original contract was based on a service fee that is charged to customers, but also gave the provider possession of the material which was to be resold and built into the business plan.
City officials said ending the contract and re-tendering it was in the best interests of utility ratepayers.
The program began in 2018 with residents charged $6.31 during a 30-day month specifically for the service. A reduction to general service fee the net difference was $2.89 more each month.
The city owns the blue bins that were distributed to single-family residences and duplexes in Medicine Hat in mid-2018. They were purchased with the proceeds of selling the city’s material sorting facility in Brier park to CanPak.
E360S still owns and operates that facility, though the city has first option to repurchase it.
Local officials with E360S tell the News they are redoubling their efforts to assure about 200 commercial and rural residential customers about their commitment to the Medicine Hat market.
It is seeking out new clients and strategic partners, according to the territorial sales manager, Dale Roth.
Due to decreased volume from the loss of the city contract, staffing levels at the sorting facility have dropped by about 20 workers, with about six retained to handled commercial collections.
GFL is currently staging material in Dunmore, then trucking it to the company’s facility in Edmonton for sorting and sales.
Early this month, the city’s various utility divisions presented updates in their business plans to city council, stating that customer fees for solid waste service would rise by about $1.18 per month.
Note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Dale Rath’s surname and his title/position at E360S. The News apologizes for the errors.
