Fairfield council close to new contract with Waste Management

FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield City Council could approve a new contract with Waste Management at its next meeting in December, after the two sides have proposed changes they’d like to see in their arrangement.

During the council’s meeting on Monday, Nov. 21, Waste Management representative Ammon Taylor said the company is asking for changes to the contract to ensure Waste Management is properly covering its costs, and this means the company wants a 5 percent increase per year, and for the contract to last five years. The council asked Taylor to lower that request to 3.5 percent per year, which reflects the city’s current contract with Waste Management.

Fairfield City Attorney John Morrissey asked Taylor if Waste Management would consider a shorter contract than five years. He said no, because the company invests in trucks and carts, and it needs those five years to recoup the investment.

Taylor also told the council that the company was not planning to continue the status quo of having 96-gallon recycling containers plus trash containers supplied by residents. He said that the trash containers require an employee to exit the garbage truck to pick them up, and the company wants to move away from that so the garbage truck can be operated just like the recycling truck where a mechanical arm reaches out, grabs the container, and dumps its contents into the truck.

Council member Paul Gandy asked if the company is seeking to reduce its workforce by automating this part of trash pick-up, and Taylor said it was more about the company seeking to pick up the trash faster.

Taylor told the council that it could get a 96-gallon trash container for all residents, or a 65-gallon container, but the company preferred the city pick one size container or the other for all residents.

Taylor asked the council whether if Waste Management changed its proposal to a 3.5 percent increase, and made a few other edits to the contract, the council would approve it. Council member Elizabeth Estey, whose environmental and franchise utilities committee looked into the contract, said her committee would approve it. Taylor said he would take the proposed changes back to Waste Management so the council can approve the contract at its meeting in December.

Language in the contract indicates that Waste Management will use cameras on its trucks to monitor contaminants to its recycling stream, and that it could cite residents for putting non-conforming recyclables in their recycling. Estey said that, while researching this issue, the city learned that Waste Management is not recycling the glass it receives through the recycling service, and that the city wants to educate the public about not putting glass in their recycling.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com