Council workshop to review contract extension proposal on curbside waste, recycling collection

posted on 1/6/2025

A proposed contract extension for the city’s curbside trash and recycling collection and disposal will be the topic of an upcoming City Council workshop on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

The workshop continues a Sept. 4, 2024, discussion on Waste Management’s contract extension proposal, as city officials consider how to proceed following the June 30, 2025 expiration of Waste Management’s current five-year collection contract. Following the Sept. 4 workshop, City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr., tasked the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) with fleshing out the cost details on the proposal. Waste Management presented the city with a two-year extension proposal with an option to extend it five additional years with a conversion to an automated toter system. If the contract extension is authorized by the City Council, the first two years would continue with the current pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) bags. After two years, the PAYT bags would be phased out and residents would receive separate toters for solid waste and recycling that can easily be emptied in collection trucks via a robotic arm.

Since July 2022, the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) has been investigating future collection options, including whether the city should take over curbside collection instead of contracting it out as the city once did and as Portsmouth and Durham do now. When the collection and disposal service was last put out to bid in 2019, there were fewer bidders than expected, and the lowest bid added a million more per year in disposal costs than the previous contract: a $400,000 increase in solid waste and $600,000 in recycling disposal costs.

Click here for the complete agenda.

The workshop will be held in Council Chambers at City Hall, beginning at 7 p.m. It will be televised on Channel 22 and online at https://dovernh.viebit.com, where it will also be available for on-demand viewing.