The Centre Region Council of Governments General Forum on Monday approved a new five-year contract for residential refuse and recycling collection in five townships.
Advanced Disposal will continue to be the hauler for Benner, College, Ferguson, Harris, and Patton Townships after being the only company to submit a bid. Standard eight-bag service will be $19.53 per month, a 21 percent, or $3.41, increase over the 2019 rate of $16.12. Half of the increase is from refuse costs and half from recycling costs. Low-usage one-bag service increases from $13.07 to $16.21.
However, when comparing the new contract — which runs from January 2020 to March 2025 — to the start of the last five year contract in 2015, the increase averages out to 2.5 percent per year.
Bid documents were issued to eight companies and three participated in a pre-bid conference, but this is the first time in seven contract periods that only one bid was received, according to Pam Adams, COG refuse and recycling administrator. She added that the bid was evaluated to make sure it was competitive and that the 2020 rate is still lower than the rate in 1991 of $20.50.
‘It’s one of the lowest costs, if not the lowest cost, in the region, in the county,’ Adams said, noting that the local rates have been well below the rate of inflation over the past 30 years.
Advanced Disposal’s operating cost will comprise $9.45 of the monthly fee for standard service, up from $7.33. The tipping fee, set by COG and Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority based on tonnage history, will be $4.43, a slight decrease from $4.90 in 2019. The recycling rate increases 45 percent, from $3.89 to $5.65.
The recycling increase is attributed to poor recycling markets nationwide, according to the bid review.
‘Across the nation, recycling programs are having to end or drop materials due to the market turmoil,’ the review stated. ‘Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority is providing all the same recycling service to the county and can market all their recyclable materials, just at reduced prices.’
COG also considered an alternate bid which would have required customers to use provided carts. Initially, curbside organics collection was being considered, which would have made standardized carts useful, but a review determined organics would have added $8 to monthly household bills while also creating a larger carbon footprint.
Carts for refuse would have added $2 to $2.50 to monthly bills, so would not have had the intended result of containing or reducing costs.
‘It just did not make a lot of sense to increase the costs for our customers,’ Adams said.
The townships voted unanimously to approve the new contact after discussing the bid at their respective board and council meetings in recent months. State College and Halfmoon Township are not part of the contract and abstained. The borough operates its own collection service and Halfmoon Township residents either contract individually with a hauler or transport their own refuse and recycling.
