Carmel Issues Release on Town-wide Garbage Collection
The following is a press release issued by the Town of Carmel in reference to the town-wide garbage collection that begins on Jan. 1, 2013.
The History and Reasons for Town Wide Garbage Collection
Back in 1985, the Carmel Town Board established a Town Wide Collection District. This was ratified by permissive referendum of the residents of the Town of Carmel. However, while the District formation was completed, the program was never implemented. Instead, at that time the Town Board adopted a Carter Licensing portion of the Carmel Town Code, in an effort to regulate the industry for the benefit of our residents.
Recently the Carmel Town Board, as part of a fact-finding process to determine the economic feasibility of municipal garbage collection, solicited competitive bidding for this service from area carters. The board was pleased with the response from several carting companies and satisfied that the prices bid are significantly lower than the pricing currently being charged to our residents through individual private agreements. While there may be particular situations where this may not be the case, on the whole, the vast majority of residents will clearly benefit from this new program.
In the past, the town has licensed up to 10 private carters operating within our borders within a single year period. Often residential neighborhoods witnessed up to five different Carting Companies operating along the same roads to service individual accounts. This results in five times the traffic, fuel consumption, air and noise pollution for this service. It is disruptive to the quality of life of the residents.
On the basis of the favorable bids received, the town board has chosen to utilize its authority under New York State law to provide a more economical solution to its residents in the implementation of a municipal garbage collection district. Essentially, with municipal garbage pick-up, our residents are now a collective bargaining consortium with the ability to obtain substantially lower pricing, based upon an economy of scale. That is evident by the lower pricing received in the competitive bidding process.
The Town of Carmel recently awarded contracts for town-wide collection of residential garbage and recyclables. The facts of this program are described below:
- AAA Carting will be performing all Residential garbage collection at single family dwellings, two family dwellings, Mother Daughter homes, and Single family homes with accessory apartments within the Town’s boundaries.
- R& S Waste will be performing residential garbage pick up at all “cluster” units. This includes all Residential Facilities that utilize centralized dumpsters (which includes condominium projects, co-ops, apartment buildings, and PUD’s). For these cluster locations, the contractor will coordinate with each operating company and/or governing Board which manages the individual “cluster” units for appropriate siting of dumpster and recycling containers.
Collection will be twice per week for garbage and once per week for recyclables, on a schedule still to be worked out with the Carters. Single family homes will be supplied with one 95 gallon plastic container with wheels and swing lid and one 65 gallon recycling bin, at no additional cost to the resident. Cluster units will receive an 18 gallon recycling container at no extra cost. It is expected that these containers will be delivered to all residences by the Carter prior to January 1, 2013.
Contractors will shortly be submitting collection schedules by street to the Town for review and acceptance. These schedules will be reviewed by the Town of Carmel Engineering Department. The approved schedule will then subsequently be mailed to each resident. The Schedule will also be posted on the Town of Carmel Website (http:// www.carmelny.org ).
The night before scheduled pick-up, Residents will be required to place all garbage containers at the end of their driveway, adjacent to the public street, in order for them to be picked up by the carter. Because the collection will be performed by automated vehicles. The container must be placed in a location that is a least four feet from any other object. The collection time will be provided in the pick-up schedule. The pails must be curbside prior to that time.
Requests for remedy of service should initially be directed to the service contractor (AAA or R&S). If the request for remedy is not addressed, then the resident should contact the Town of Carmel Engineering Department at 628-1500. The phone numbers of the respective Carter will be on the pick-up schedule.
The costs for these services are as follows:
o For residential units described above, the cost is $22.00/ month per home or $264.00 per year.
o For “cluster units”, described above, the cost is $16.67/ month per home or $200.00 per year.
As part of the Carter’s contractual scope of services with the Town, all residents will be provided with 2 bulk collections per year of three cubic yards for each collection, and one Christmas tree collection. The bulk collections will be scheduled by the contractor. Again, this schedule, as well as more detailed information on the types of items which may be picked up, will be provided to residents. The Christmas tree collection will be completed before the third week in January. The contractor will separately provide all residents with a schedule for this pick-up. These two services are provided to residents at no extra charge.
The costs will be included in each property owner’s Town and County Tax bill which is issued every January. There will be a separate line item on the bill.
Duration of the Contract is two years with unilateral option of the Town of Carmel to renew for two more one year periods.
- Recycling – may be comingled as a single stream. That means residents can combine all recyclables into one collection bin provided by the Carter, for pick-up.
- For business owners utilizing private carters for commercial collection, the Garbage District does not include commercial properties. You are free to contract privately with any licensed commercial carter.
- For residents with current contract/agreements with private Carters – As of January 1, 2013, there will be no carters licensed for residential collection.
For those residents requiring enhanced or extra service – As part of the proposals received, the Town Board obtained pricing for various “additional” services which residents may seek to obtain. A schedule of these services is provided below. In accordance with the terms of its bid, the Contractor must provide you with these services at the prices stated, if requested by any individual resident. This, however, would be a private transaction between the resident and the Carter. Residents will have to pay the Carter directly for these services, and will be invoiced separately for any such services requested. The only involvement of the Town of Carmel is to advise residents of what these pricing points are, and that by way of the Carters contract with the Town of Carmel, they are enforceable by each resident.
o Cost to be charged to resident for one extra 65 gallon refuse container which will be collected only one time per week. (Container NOT supplied by Contractor)-$100.00 / Year
o Cost to be charged to resident for one extra 95 gallon refuse container which will be collected only one time per week. (Container NOT supplied by Contractor)-$105.00 / Year
o Cost to be charged to resident for one extra 65 gallon refuse container which will be collected only one time per week. (Container To Be supplied by Contractor)-$105.00 / Year
o Cost to be charged to resident for one extra 95 gallon refuse container which will be collected only one time per week. (Container To Be supplied by Contractor)-$110.00 / Year
o Cost to be charged to resident for one extra 65 gallon refuse container which will be collected twice a week. (Container NOT supplied by Contractor) -$135.00 / Year
o Cost to be charged to resident for one extra 95 gallon refuse container which will be collected twice a week. (Container NOT supplied by Contractor)-$140.00 / Year
o Cost to be charged to resident for one extra 65 gallon refuse container which will be collected twice per week. (Container To Be supplied by Contractor)-$140.00 / Year
o Cost to be charged to resident for one extra 95 gallon refuse container which will be collected twice per week. (Container To Be supplied by Contractor)-$145.00 / Year
o Cost to be charged to resident for “driveway” service, which will permit the resident to place their containers on the driveway adjacent to their residence-$300.00 / Year
The Carmel Town Board’s recent action to enter into municipal garbage collection with the identified carters, based upon their low bids submitted as part of the competitive bidding process utilized, will benefit residents by lowered costs for these services.
In closing, this is the first time that the Town of Carmel has entered the market place to provide Town residents with this essential service. Much effort has been made to provide residents with a seamless transition. However, as with any new program, there is a learning curve both on the part of the Town of Carmel, and the authorized carters. We ask that all residents be patient with us both as this new program is implemented.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
