Waste Management Wins Refuse Contract in Tatamy

Waste Management has been selected as Tatamy's new disposal company, beating out Raritan Valley Disposal and J.P. Mascaro & Sons.

The current contract with J.P. Mascaro & Sons will expire in December.

Waste Management Bid:
Recycling and waste collection -- $529,207 for a five-year contract
Yard waste collection -- $120,216 for a five-year contract (residents can put out an unlimited amount of yard-waste bags)

Broken down, this will cost each home or business about $148 every six months, according to Hazel DeReamus, chairwoman of the borough's Finance Committee. Under Mascaro's contract, residents and businesses were paying $172.50 semiannually, she said.

Raritan Valley’s bid was almost $44,000 more than Waste Management’s bid, and Mascaro’s proposal was disqualified because no dollar figures were provided on the bid pages.

“The bid pages are all blank,” said Council President Chris Moren during Tuesday night's council meeting.

Borough solicitor David Jordan, Moren and two other council members went through Mascaro’s proposal page by page looking for the company’s bid, hoping it wasn't accidentally missed.

Council members discussed whether the bid process should be re-opened, but Moren said this option would require additional expenses for advertising and other fees.

Jordan put an immediate halt to the discussion when he said Waste Management could file a suit against the borough if council were to throw out the bids because of Mascaro’s mistake.

Waste Management's bid was then unanimously passed.

In addition to a new disposal company, the requirements for recycling will soon be easier for residents. Council members decided to go with a single-stream system, which means residents will not have to sort their recyclables anymore, according to Jordan. Recyclables can now be mixed together.