Municipal Recycling News

Pratt Starts Texas Operations

Pratt Industries, based in Conyers, Ga., has begun recycling operations in Denton, Texas, in a facility that is located at the city’s landfill.

The Denton facility is the company’s 10th recycling facility and represents a multi-million dollar investment. The company will operate the plant under a 20-year agreement with the city of Denton.

“We’re extremely excited to partner with the residents of Denton to bring this facility to the city,” says Myles Cohen, president of Pratt Recycling.

The facility will process curbside material from the city and surrounding areas as well as recyclables from commercial accounts, including manufacturers, retailers and distribution centers, Cohen says.

Under the agreement, the city will collect recyclables from businesses and residences and deliver them to Pratt’s recycling center. The company will consume the collected recovered paper at its Shreveport, La., recycling mill, and sell the plastic and metal to other consumers.

“The new facility benefits the city and its residents by delivering cost-efficient recycling programs as well as providing a revenue stream for the materials,” says Kurt Schmitz, Pratt national operations manager.

“We solicited a recycling partner so we could offer increased recycling opportunities for our residents and local businesses,” says Shirlene Sitton, recycling division manager for the city’s Solid Waste Department. “Having this facility at our landfill and operations site will accomplish that goal as well as support the recycling industry for the whole region.”

Pratt has similar contracts with other cities, including New York City, Savannah, Ga., Shreveport, La., and Fayetteville, N.C.

GBB Assists Indiana City with Recycling Program

Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc. (GBB), based in Fairfax, Va., has been selected by the city of Fort Wayne, Ind., to review current garbage and recycling collection programs, provide recommendations for future programs and oversee the procurement process with vendors.

“Procurements are not without challenge and they require extensive planning, intense focus and a tireless effort with the many stakeholders involved,” says Tim Giardina, GBB principal associate and project manager for this engagement. “Working together with the city of Fort Wayne, we are confident that we’ll help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the current collection programs, resulting in service improvements and hopefully cost reductions and significant increase in recycling rates.”

Initially, GBB says it will review the city’s current garbage and recycling collection programs and costs, develop a benchmark comparison to other cities equivalent in size and services and present findings and recommendations to the city’s Solid Waste Contract Committee. Special focus and consideration will be on single-stream recycling collection, volume-based collection and separation of hauling and disposal contracts.

Next, GBB says it will support the procurement process, reviewing and providing draft specifications for the forthcoming bid documents to be issued by the city July 1, 2010; assisting with pre-bid meeting and follow up to questions; reviewing bids; making recommendations to the Board of Public Works and city council for approval; and helping with contract negotiations with the selected contractor.