Township to Enter Shared Contract With Ocean Twp. For Trash Pickup

A shared services venture with Ocean Township for trash collection has resulted in a new contract with Waste Management, Inc. that is expected to save Barnegat about $1.8 million over the next five years, say officials.

The contract, approved by the Township Committee at its regular meeting Monday night, was negotiated on a per-house, per-month basis, said township Administrator David Breeden. Barnegat has contracted with Waste Management for the last five years, most recently paying the company $9.07 per house per month for garbage pickup.

The new contract dictates a rate of $5.33 per house per month for the first year, with a gradual increase to $5.77 in the fifth and final year.

With about 8,400 housing units in town – and a growth rate of about 140 to 150 units per year – that amounts to more than a 40 percent savings in the first year. Breeden said the new contract agreement will save Barnegat about $400,000 per year and Ocean Township about $125,000.

Breeden attributed Waste Management’s willingness to come in low to two factors.

First, as with many shared service agreements, the joint contract involving two adjacent municipalities likely appealed to the company, Breeden said.

Waste Management already contracts with both townships – officials assured residents at the Monday meeting that pickup routes would remain the same – but the company was offered the chance to secure services to both with a single agreement.

“We combined both towns, so we had 11,000 to 12,000 housing units at stake for the next five years,” Breeden said. “It becomes a very attractive proposal for Waste Management.”

Second, he said, four or five vendors put in bids, “so Waste Management knew they had competition.” As a result, “they came in with an extremely competitive and attractive proposal.”

Breeden said the township has no plans to go back to the “robocans” that were previously used for automated pickup but were abandoned in 2005. “The current collection system seems to be working well,” he said, though at Tuesday’s meeting, he acknowledged some residents west of the Parkway had seen late trash pickup, and Committee members heard complaints from a Settlers Landing resident regarding uncollected trash regularly sitting on curbs.

“If there’s a problem, it gets resolved quickly,” Breeden said Monday.

The success of the agreement is proof that combining resources with other communities can bring down costs, Breeden said.

“Some people say shared services doesn’t work,” he said. “It’s not easy to accomplish, but if you put in the time and effort, it does.”