Island Rubbish keeps towns recycling contract
By Dotti Farrington

Town garbage removal will cost nearly $1 million in the next half decade, according to contracts the Town Council approved Monday amid comments about favorable terms and about ways residents can help curtail garbage costs.

The councilors agreed to have Steven Tiexiera's 27-year-old Island Rubbish Service continue its recyclables contract, as the low bid, against Waste Management Inc., based in Texas, described as the nation's largest trash hauler.

The new contract will cost $164,600 in the first year; $172,800 the second year; $181,500 the third year; $190,500, the fourth year; and $200,100 in the final year for a total bid not to exceed $909,500 for the five years.

The new contract compares with $95,000 for the current agreement, which includes a fuel-cost rider that added $2,300 most recently. The national hauler wanted $187,000 more than Island Rubbish Service to do the same work.

Town Administrator Bruce Keiser said the higher costs reflect more households being served, now at 3,000, and more recyclables being hauled, compared with original routes. He said Island Rubbish has been doing increasingly better work, helping the town to exceed state standards for recycling and environmental improvements.

Councilor William Kelly spoke about the staff and equipment that Island Rubbish Service uses and the success of its efforts. He said the firm helped the town earn bonus funds for recycling and is working to improve the record in several ways.

Kelly and Keiser said the town is looking to do "selective

salvaging" such as finding a buyer for appliances, called white goods in the trade. Keiser referred to Kelly as "the Fred Sanford of the Town Council" for his lead role in efforts for increased individual, agency, and town recycling. Sanford was the fictional television junk collecting character played by the late Red Foxx in the late 1980s.

The council also renewed its contract with Allied Waste Services, headquartered in Arizona, for refuse hauling to pull trailers to RI Resource Recovery or Metals Recycling at $200 or $300 per event, which Waste Management offered to do for about $20 more per unit.