Canton Trustees to Consider No-Bid Extension of Waste-Hauling Contract

Canton Township officials are considering several changes to the trash-hauling contract with Canton Waste Recycling. As part of the changes, township officials could extend the existing contract by as much as five years.

Among the amendments, yard waste would be added to the contract with Canton Waste. 

The township currently sends residents' yard waste to Veolia Environmental Services, which operates a landfill on Napier Road at Six Mile Road in Salem Township. Veolia handles about 7,000 pounds of yard waste for Canton. The work is part of a multi-community contract under the name Western Townships Utilities Authority. Canton pays about $184,000 a year for the service.

Tim Faas, the township's municipal services director, reviewed the proposed contract changes during a presentation to Canton's board of trustees on Tuesday,

The company's contract was signed in 2004 and was supposed to end in 2010. But the board of trustees voted in 2008 to extend the contract to 2015 without competitve bidding.

Faas asked trustees to consider another extension which could add up to five years to the agreement. Under the terms of the extension, Canton Waste Recycling would agree to waive a 3 percent annual fee for every year the contract is extended, up to five years. The company would then be able to charge a 2 percent increase between 2015 to 2020.

The move could save the township nearly $91,000 for the 2010-2011 contract year, Faas said, with a maximum saving of almost $4 million by 2020.

This proposal includes letting Canton Waste Recycling select a yard waste disposal site and negotiate terms on township’s behalf. Another change  would be reducing the number of Canton Clean-up Days offered. “just during the winter months when times are slow,” Faas said.

“Us getting together with waste hauling will help save money over the next few years,” said Canton Supervisor Phil Lajoy. “We win, and they win by getting a contract.”

Faas told the trustees that Canton’s single-stream recycling program, launched in April 2009, appears to be a success.

“It significantly expanded the types and quantity of material we could collect curbside,” Faas said about the program.

He said there used to be a lot of rules and restrictions that required more work for residents but the current program takes less preparation and adds zero additional costs.

“By 2010, at the end of the calendar year, we’ve already exceeded the 2015 goal,” Faas said.

The collection target set for 2015 – 3,500 tons – was exceeded in 2010, when 3,638 tons were collected, he said.

Faas said later, in an email to Canton Patch, that trustees could vote on the contract extension as soon as March 8.