By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
    With South Portland’s public works fleet reduced by one automated trash truck after a recent accident and the recycling contract with Pine Tree Waste set to expire, the city council showed support for expanding its contract with Pine Tree to include a five-year agreement for solid waste pickup.
    The council will make a final decision at its Sept. 5 meeting.     
    Pine Tree Waste, a division of Casella Waste Systems, which also owns Maine Energy Recovery Company (MERC) in Biddeford, was the only company to respond to a bid request for the three possible scenarios the city can pursue.
    During Monday’s council workshop, Dana Anderson said the department requested bids for: collection of recyclables, collection of recyclables with contractor providing 65 gallon containers and collection of recyclables and solid waste with contractor providing 65 gallon recyclable containers and using the city’s solid waste bins.
    Contracting with Pine Tree Waste for both solid waste and recycling would cost roughly $831,000, which translates to an approximate annual increase of $134,000 over the life of the five-year contract, according to Anderson.
    Anderson estimated there to be an increase in the solid waste disposal account of approximately $428,000 and a roughly $294,000 reduction in labor, supplies and lease purchases of vehicles.
    While the short-term costs would be significant, Anderson said with privatization he would not have to buy a third truck to replace the “totaled” truck, which would cost roughly $200,000. The department has the money to purchase a third truck, however, Anderson said privatization would allow him to go out on the market a year from now and sell a truck, a sale that would bring in at least $50,000.
    If the department did purchase a replacement truck, Anderson said he would likely have difficulty retaining operators.
    “My top operators just don’t want the redundancy,” he said refering to the operation of the automated arm. ”After a couple of months, they don’t want to do it anymore. Not one truck driver wanted to be trained after the accident.”   
    Anderson said privatization would eliminate two positions, which could be used for snow plowing or other activities.  
    “The union isn’t too thrilled–potentially you’re talking about jobs,” Anderson said. “They’ll fight for two jobs going out the door.”    
    One of the major benefits in contracting both services with Pine Tree Waste is that the company has more resources.
    Two weeks ago, when the public works department had no trucks available, Anderson said they called Pine Tree Waste General Manager Stuart Axelrod and he was able to send over a truck to help.
    “We have emergencies, we have these catastrophes and all of a sudden the city has to scramble,” said Councilor Kay Loring. “If a Pine Tree truck goes down, (Axelrod) probably has 10 other trucks to draw from.” She added, “If you eliminate collecting trash–it opens more time to do other things.”
    Should the city continue to collect solid waste, but contract with Pine Tree for automated recyclable pickup, Anderson said he would need to replace the trash truck.  At a cost of roughly $498,000, the city would see an annual increase of $20,000 over the five-year period.
    The price increase is driven by the need for Pine Tree to buy and distribute 8,200 containers, which is estimated to cost $93,000 each year of the contract.
    After five years the city will own the containers and there will be a reduction of $93,000 in future contracts.
    Drawing on Scarborough’s experiences with its recently implemented automated collection, Axelrod said the automated system is easier on the carts and he estimated the containers should last ten years.
    Anderson said the convenience and efficiency of the automated system would likely encourage more recycling and he estimated there would be a ten percent decrease in solid waste tonnage in the first year.
    If the city council elects to keep the current process in place with Pine Tree Waste offering recyclable pickup only, it would come at a cost of roughly $346,000 to implement, Anderson said there would be an increase of approximately $13,000 in next year’s budget.
    Anderson said Pine Tree Waste could potentially start picking up solid waste within three to four months. He said the city will start to feel the budget increase next year.
    Councilor Linda Boudreau, who is also Board Chair of ecomaine, said her biggest concern with privatization was the $133,000 increase in one year. She asked Acting City Manager Jim Gailey and Anderson to develop a program that would lessen the impact on taxpayers.