By Mike Deak, MyCentralJersey.com
November 27, 2023
Residents are scrambling to contract with a garbage and recycling collector after the Township Committee decided earlier this month not to renew its contract for the service.
The township had contracted with Republic Services, a national company with $1.4 billion in annual revenue, to collect garbage and recyclables from the township’s 4,700 single-family homes at annual cost of $616,028. That cost was included in the municipal budget and passed on to residents in property tax bills.
The expenditure was 2.6% of the township’s $23.23 million budget.
For a home assessed at $500,000, Deputy Mayor Adam Mueller explained, that worked out to $93.65 a year plus an average of $60 for stickers in the “pay-as-you-throw program.”
Unlike neighboring Somerset County, Hunterdon County does not provide curbside recycling. Contracted private haulers also collect recyclables.
In Readington’s neighbors – Raritan Township, Branchburg, Clinton Township and Tewksbury – residents contract individually for garbage collection.
The township’s contract with Republic Services expires Dec. 31. The township solicited bids for 2024 collection this summer and when the bids were received in September, township officials received a shock.
Republic was low bidder for the 2024 contract at $1.99 million, a 223% increase. The bid also called for an annual 6% increase until 2028 and said the sticker program would end.
That amount, Township Administrator Richard Sheola said, was “way out of the realm of reality.”
There was only one other bidder, Sanico, which was more than $2 million.
The expenditure would have played havoc with the municipal budget, said Sheola, which has a 2% state-mandated cap.
That meant, if the township approved the bid, residents would vote in a referendum early next year to exceed the budget cap. Holding the referendum would cost $35,000 and that referendum would have to be repeated in 2025 and 2026.
If it did not pass, the township would have to create a separate solid waste disposal utility, Sheola said.
Mueller explained that Republic is charging private customers $37.50 per quarter to pick up a 35-gallon container plus recyclables.
“It’s cheaper for every single resident of Readington,” Mueller said.
“The numbers don’t lie,” he said.
Because they’re private companies, the haulers can raise their prices anytime they want, he said.
“We don’t control that.” Mueller said.
The reasons for the higher price, township officials said, were higher insurance costs and tipping fees.
Mueller also said no company is offering a sticker program because companies are moving to one-man crews where a driver uses a remote-controlled arm to pick up garbage. The sticker program requires another worker, a “tailgunner,” to ride the truck, check for stickers then empty the receptacle.
With the Township Committee deciding on Nov. 6, one day before the election, not to enter into a new contract with Republic, residents began searching for private haulers, with five companies serving the township.
Some residents were dissatisfied and confused about the township’s decision.
Residents started a Facebook page to exchange their views on the change and haulers entered the ongoing conversation with offers of information.
“We still shouldn’t be scrambling for trash pickup so soon before the contract expires,” one person wrote.
“Is anyone with quite low output think of trash sharing?” posted one resident who used the sticker system for collection.
One resident posted on the township’s Facebook page that he was “so mad” and said “Maybe I’ll just follow my neighbor’s lead and burn the garbage.”
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com