Windsor Locks Officials Considering Modified Waste Removal Proposals

Windsor Locks selectmen are mulling over revised proposals for a waste removal agreement for the town.

On Tuesday, representatives from the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority and Covanta Energy about the proposals.

Windsor Locks’ current municipal service agreement with CRRA began in 1993 and will expire in November 2012, officials said.
 
First Selectman Steven N. Wawruck Jr. said the board of selectmen wouldn’t make a decision Tuesday and was taking in all of the information. The board postponed choosing a date for a town meeting for residents to vote on the proposals until the selectmen have a chance to discuss the proposals and make a recommendation.

Cheryl Thibeault, business manager for Covanta, said the company could offer the town waste removal for $58.75 per ton, and a $22.50 per to rebate for recycling materials. The waste would be hauled to Covanta’s facility in Springfield, which has shorter waiting times for waste hauler trucks, Thibeault said.

Covanta has recently partnered with another company that allows them to guarantee the recycling rebate for 10 years. The waste removal fee would increase 2.5 percent annually, Thibeault said. 

The company is also offering $10,000 a year in outreach money for the town to use at its discretion. That is the equivalent of a $2 per ton rebate, she added.

“We really don’t want to get into a bidding war,” Thibeault said. “We want to provide premium service.

With the contract expiring for a number of municipalities in central Connecticut at the same time, the Capitol Region Council of Governments formed the Central Connecticut Solid Waste Authority to solicit proposals from service providers including CRRA to consider.

In 2010, Windsor Locks sent 9,190 tons of municipal waste to CRRA. Of that 5,060 tons were billed to the town at $69 per ton, costing about $350,000. The town sent 1,100 tons in recyclables to the facility, for which Windsor Locks got a $5 per ton rebate, officials said.

A private hauler, Paine’s Inc., collects and hauls the town’s waste to the facility, officials said.

Tom Kirk, president of CRRA, said the agency has made two substantial changes to its proposal since representatives made their pitch to the town in April.

First the date at which municipalities must tell the agency if they approve the new agreement has been pushed back from November 1 to December 31.

The second change is municipalities can have separate agreements for waste removal and recycling, Kirk said. Some  municipalities may want for geographic reasons or they can get a better deal to have a recycling agreement with some other entity than CRRA, he said.

The Tier I program from CRRA, through the Central Connecticut Solid Waste Authority, would cost the town $61.50 per ton of solid waste in the first three years of the contract. The agency is offering a $20 per town rebate for recycling.

“We’re optimistic that if CRRA is chosen by the town it’s most beneficial for the town, Kirk said. “We’ll be here many, many years.

The agency takes trash from its central Connecticut communities to its facility in Hartford where it’s burned to drive steam turbines which produce electricity that is sold to Connecticut Light & Power, officials said.