At the March 21st North Bend City Council meeting, Council passed an amendment to the Motion Authorizing a Contract for Solid Waste and Recycling Collection Services, to hear a second reading at the April 4th City Council meeting.
The City of North Bend’s current solid waste collection contract with Republic Services expires on March 31, 2024. During the past year, the City and its consultant, Epicenter Services, conducted a competitive procurement process, having received submissions from Recology, Republic Services, and Waste Management.
Republic proposed the lowest rates and Recology received the highest qualitative score relating to contract compliance, customer service, community outreach, and education. For scoring criteria and more, please see the March 21st, 2023 City Council Packet.
A draft contract with current service provider, Republic Services, was presented in November 2022. The procurement process continued, however, as concerns regarding a new contract with Republic mounted, due to a past issue of the company’s refusal to provide service credits to North Bend customers following missed service during an early 2022 storm and labor strike. The extended period of missed service resulted in approximately $30,000 in City paid expenses to ensure customers received solid waste removal. After unsuccessful attempts to get Republic Services to add service credits to the new contract at no additional charge, the City met with Recology.
Recology agreed to the City’s request for service credits, lowered their proposed rates, and offered additional benefits for customers, including:
- Increased service requirements during winter weather and labor interruptions, plus credit for services missed after the first week of service interruption
- A 12-year term which translates to a lower rate for customers
- New collection vehicles that will provide for more reliable service and lower emissions
- Access to Recology’s store, located in Issaquah, which serves as an in-person customer service center, as well as a recycling center for a variety of hard-to-recycle items
- Local call center that will be available seven days per week, with two-way texting for customers
- Additional recycling and composting educational outreach and promotion
The new contract for once-a-week collection will start April 1, 2024. Residential customers may expect nearly a double in their monthly rates and commercial customers may expect an approximately 40% increase. However, this significant increase in cost to customers will be felt regardless of vendor selection due to inflationary increases in operating costs that are being experienced throughout the refuse and recycling industry.