Parma, Ohio, approves 5-year waste contract with Rumpke

Less than six months after Parma, Ohio, went out to bid for its next garbage and recycling contract, its city council earlier this week approved a new five-year contract with Cincinnati-based Rumpke Waste and Recycling, reports Cleveland.com.

“Our previous deal was a five-year contract, including three one-year options that we exercised, with Republic Services that expires at the end of next January,” Parma Service Director Brian Higgins says.

“The lowest overall bidder was Republic if we kept the exact program that we have now, which is once-a-month bulk, separating yard waste, and regular (weekly) trash pickup and recyclables,” he adds. “With this new Rumpke contract, the difference is having the weekly pickup and not separating yard waste. Residents will be able to weekly put out their (regular trash and recycling) and bulk, as well as on top of that, up to six bags of other trash or three 32-gallon cans owned by the residents.”

The service director says the difference between the two bids was $4.44 per home per year (or 37 cents a month).

While the previous Republic Services contract was a roughly $13 per home monthly cost, the new deal with Rumpke Waste and Recycling in the first year is $15.40, with annual increases built into the deal. Higgins says the average monthly cost per year over the five-year contract—which doesn’t include any extensions—is $16.19.

Going into the bidding process for Parma’s garbage and recycling contract, city leaders were cognizant of other communities signing deals in the $17-per-home monthly range. At that time, Higgins guessed that the new Parma deal would be around $16.50.

“I think we got a really good deal,” Higgins says. “Republic knew there were other people pretty hungry for this contract, so we felt it’s time for a change. That’s why we bid it out really early to give competitors an opportunity to order trucks and carts.”

“I appreciate the hard work of Service Director Higgins,” Mayor Tim DeGeeter says. “He put these bid specs together, went out and I think we got a very good result for our community. A year ago, we were thinking it would be a significant increase for the cost of garbage collection.”