Delmont council to solicit bids for garbage, recycling contract

Delmont council plans to solicit bids for a borough-wide garbage hauling and recycling contract.

Council this week voted unanimously to draft an ordinance and possibly have a contract in place by spring. Council members Debbie Jobe and Carl Boyd were not present Tuesday.

“The overall tenor of the town hall meeting (in November) was that a municipal contract will get us the most bang for our buck in terms of garbage, recycling, hazardous (household) waste pickup, all those things,” Councilman David Weber said.

Murrysville officials have suggested Delmont enter into a contract that runs through 2021 in order to line up with the contract that both Murrysville and Export renewed this fall, Weber said.

Joining with those municipalities would provide all three more leverage in future contract negotiations, solicitor Dan Hewitt said.

“The more potential customers you have to lock them in on, typically the better your rate will be,” Hewitt said. “If it's a matter of having our contract link up with theirs, that's easy.”

Weber said he would like to include an option for commercial hauling and recycling in the bid specifications as well as a per-bag payment option and a reduced rate for seniors.

Delmont residents now find their own haulers and have no local recycling option since the Lions Club discontinued its program in February.

If the borough enters into a hauling contract, it will contain a provision that existing contracts between residents and haulers be honored. Most residents pay a quarterly rate to individual haulers.