West Deptford To Save Over $154K In Trash Collection: Officials

WEST DEPTFORD, NJ — West Deptford is on track to save $154,300 in 2020 after Gloucester County reached a new 10-year-deal for trash disposal, officials announced. The deal with New Hampshire-based Wheelabrator, which county officials said will save taxpayers countywide at least $24 million over the next 10 years, takes effect Jan. 1, 2020.

The Gloucester County Improvement Authority negotiated a deal on behalf of all 24 municipalities in the county. It will decrease the cost of trash disposal to $74.50, saving each municipality 11 percent over the rate of $85.17 that would have otherwise been enacted at the conclusion of the current contract, officials said. With a 2 percent escalation increase per year, each town will pay $89.03 per ton in 2029. The deal expires on Dec. 31, 2029.

“We will be paying less per ton of generated trash per year over the next five years than we are paying today,” West Deptford Mayor Denice DiCarlo said. “Trash disposal is a large portion of our budget so when we can save it’s a great win for our taxpayers.”

"When we work together, we can create the economies of scale and get a procurement rate that benefits every taxpayer in the county,” Gloucester County Freeholder Director Robert M. Damminger said. “As a county we send just over 207,300 tons of trash Wheelabrator annually, if each town had to negotiate their own contract, many of them would probably end of paying twice as much per ton.

“There is strength in our bargaining as a unit to get the best price and I applaud every mayor and governing body for seeing the advantage of joining together to achieve a savings they would not have been able to achieve on their own.”

Wheelabrator provides trash-to-energy, waste-fuel powered independent power and biosolids management services across the country, according to Bloomberg. It was founded in 1988, and sold to an affiliate of Energy Capital Partners, Granite Acquisition, for $1.94 billion in 2014, according to Hoovers.

It has come under fire for its incinerator, which allegedly caused $55 million in adverse health conditions, according to a story published by the Baltimore Sun earlier this year.