SEBASTIAN — The City of Sebastian will once again have Waste Management driving the streets, picking up trash at the curbside. The council recently finalized a 5-year contract with the waste hauler, which includes a 5-year extension that would automatically go into effect provided neither party calls it off.
Residential customers can expect to see their bill from Waste Management decrease once the new franchise agreement goes into effect in July. Currently, the typical residential customer is paying $38.82 per quarter – or $12.94 a month. Under the new agreement, customers can expect to pay $33.54 per quarter – or $11.18 a month.
When Waste Management first received the city’s franchise, the company charged customers $9.80 a month. The rate has gone up slightly over the last decade, tied to the Consumer Price Index.
“They haven’t increased substantially,” City Manager Al Minner said.
Under the new agreement, Waste Management’s rates will continue to be tied to the CPI and will have a 3 percent cap.
“It’s a reasonable cost,” Minner said.
They will receive one 64-gallon Waste Management issued trash bin, with wheels, in which to toss their bags of trash. Those who do not need or cannot handle a 64-gallon bin can request a 36-gallon bin. Collection, as before, will be held twice weekly.
Residential trash collection is not mandated in the City of Sebastian. Residents can choose whether or not to participate. Of the 9,500 potential customers the city has, about 4,500 – or 47 percent – currently sign up for curbside trash collection.
Those who do not subscribe to the service can take their trash to the county’s landfill or to one of the customer convenience centers.
Commercial customers’ rates vary widely and depend on the frequency of collection, the size of the dumpster and the amount being hauled away, among other variables. Rates range from $46.38 for the smallest dumpster and once weekly pickup to $734.08 for the largest dumpster and six times weekly pickup.
In order to keep the City of Sebastian’s business, Waste Management agreed to provide several perks the City Council requested, including two community cleanups, one annual special event cleanup each for electronics, paper shredding, and white goods, and trash collection for the four major city-sponsored festivals at Riverview Park.
Waste Management will also provide its “Waste Watch” program, a program meant to put more eyes on the streets for public safety.
The trash hauler has agreed to provide five of its solar-powered trash/recycle compactors at the Barber Street Sports Complex, which are due to arrive sometime in August and be operational in September.
And, in an effort to cut down on carbon emissions, Waste Management also agreed to the City of Sebastian’s terms requiring the fleet of haulers to run on Compressed Natural Gas by Jan. 1, 2015.
Whether Waste Management can get a fueling station in place in Sebastian by that deadline remains to be seen.
Waste Management consultant George Geletko told the Sebastian City Council that the company hopes to convert its Indian River County fleet to CNG in 2017. In order to make the 2015 deadline, the company might have to ask its local haulers to drive to the Brevard County fueling station and then head back to Indian River County, drive their routes, then go back to Brevard to drop off their truck and drive back home.
Geletko said the haulers might not be receptive to that scenario and the company could lose Indian River County resident employees.
Minner said after the meeting that the city currently plans to hold Waste Management to the 2015 deadline. Any change to that timeline would have to come from the Sebastian City Council, which could decide to postpone the fleet conversion requirement until such time as a fueling station is built in northern Indian River County.
Currently, Waste Management and the City of Sebastian are considering a site at the Sebastian Municipal Airport for a fueling station. However, if natural gas is not run through the area by the time the company is ready to build, another site might be one between Sebastian and Fellsmere, where Florida City Gas has been laying pipes to service Fellsmere.
After running through the service Waste Management has promised, Councilwoman Andrea Coy said she was satisfied.
“I’m done Mr. Mayor,” she said. “Look at the big smile.”
Vice Mayor Don Wright was equally pleased with the new franchise agreement.
“I’m pleased to have Waste Management back again,” he said.
