In a move that has been much anticipated by Maplewood residents, weekly recycling pickup starts Monday, March 2 for the township.
Previously, residents had been receiving recycling pickup every other week.
The Maplewood Township Committee awarded a contract for weekly recycling to Gaeta Recycling in February. As part of the contract, when a holiday falls on a Monday, recycling will be picked up on Tuesdays.
The town had hoped to begin weekly recycling on Jan. 5; however, that plan was stalled when a losing contractor (Gaeta) filed suit against the award of the bid to Bella Cleaning and Carting, charging that Bella had not complied with the bid specifications and that Bella was not the lowest responsible bidder. In the meantime, the Township contracted with 2014 vendor Basso Recycling for continued bi-weekly recycling pickup. That contract expires at the end of February.
Maplewood Counsel Roger Desiderio reported on Feb. 3 that the suit had been decided by Superior Court Judge Thomas R. Vena who ruled that neither Gaeta nor Bella “should be awarded the bid based on the contract specifications.”
The contract was then rebid with bids being opened Feb. 10, but only Gaeta rebid, with a bid of approximately $263,000 ($20,000 more than its original bid in the fall). The term of the contract is from March 1, 2015 to February 29, 2016.
Previously, F. Basso of Irvington provided recycling pickup every other week through a two-year contract (2013 and 2014) for $318,026.00.
“This is not a situation that has been beneficial to the township in terms of cost,” said Desiderio at the Feb. 17 Township Committee meeting.
Despite the higher rate, Desiderio said that the Township had no choice other than to accept the bid: “In this instance we’re in a corner. We’ve got to get this awarded.”
(Fore more on the contract award, visit here.)
Township Administrator Joseph Manning said that the Township did have “some ideas going forward on how to bring the cost down” that may involve changing the day of the week for pickup. He also said that the town would go out to bid much earlier for next year’s contract in order to get better rates.
