WOODBURY, N.J. – Gloucester County has re-procured a ten-year contract for trash disposal rates saving taxpayers at least $24 million over the next ten years.
The Gloucester County Improvement Authority negotiated the contract on behalf of all 24 county municipalities, resulting in a decrease in the disposal cost of trash to $74.50 beginning January 1, 2020. The agreement will be in place until December 31, 2029 and saves each municipality eleven percent over the rate it would have been had the contract not been put in place again.
“When we work together, we can create the economies of scale and get a procurement rate that benefits every taxpayer in the county,” Freeholder Director Robert M. Damminger said in a press release from the county. “As a county, we send just over 207,300 tons of trash Wheelabrator annually, if each town had to negotiate their own contract, many of them would probably end of paying twice as much per ton.”
Damminger said that having county municipalities unified helped secure the rates.
“There is strength in our bargaining as a unit to get the best price and I applaud every mayor and governing body for seeing the advantage of joining together to achieve a savings they would not have been able to achieve on their own,” Damminger said.
As an example of the savings, West Deptford Township is on track to save $154,300 in 2020.
“We will be paying less per ton of generated trash per year over the next five years than we are paying today,” West Deptford Mayor Denice DiCarlo said. “Trash disposal is a large portion of our budget so when we can save it’s a great win for our taxpayers.”
The current ten-year contract for trash disposal with Wheelabrator Technologies, a waste management firm based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, ends on December 31, 2019. Had the contract not been re-procured, the rate would have increased to $85.17 per ton instead of the newly agreed upon now $74.50 per ton beginning on January 1, 2020. With only a two percent escalation increase per year, each town will only pay $89.03 per ton in year 2029.
Mantua Township Mayor Pete Scirrotto said that the money saved helps save taxpayers money.
“We will be saving over $99,000 in 2020 under this new contract from 2019 costs,” Scirrotto said. “Without this contract in place we would be paying more and more every year for disposal. Every dollar we can save helps us keep running our government without having to go back and ask more from the taxpayers.”
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