Last night, Tyrone Borough awarded a bid for its refuse/recycling collection.
The Borough received bids on Aug. 2 for trash and recycling collection for the next three-year period beginning Oct. 1 of this year and ending Sept. 30, 2009.
The current contract with Waste Management expires on Sept. 30 of this year. Residents currently pay a monthly rate of $11.73.
Under the present system, residents are asked to recycle a different type of material each week. Borough manager Sharon Dannaway said residents are asked to recycle tin and aluminum products, glass, plastic and newspapers each week. The hauler picks up one type of material each week on a rotating basis.
Dannaway said she had learned from Blair County Solid Waste that recycling in the borough had decreased in the past 10 years.
The borough put into the bid specifications two different co-mingling options. One option was to pick up regular trash every week and all recyclables every other week. Another option was to pick up regular trash every week and co-mingle most items every other week with newspapers being recycled the alternate weeks. The idea to co-mingle was proposed as a way to increase participation.
When the bids were presented last night, Burgmeier Hauling was the low bidder for the second option of picking up trash every week and recycling most items every other week except newspapers, which would be picked up on the alternating weeks.
Council approved the Burgmeier bid, which offered the lowest rate to residents. The cost for refuse/recycling collection will go up to $13.49 a month or an annual rate of $161.88 starting Oct. 1.
“We feel if we simplify it, maybe they’ll increase recycling, if you do co-mingling where you can put all (items) together,” said Dannaway previously.
At a June meeting, councilman Jim Grazier asked if the borough could create a senior citizen rate for trash hauling. Dannaway said the idea would be a billing nightmare. She also told council that Tyrone has one of the lowest rates in the county.
