Town Signs Lucrative New Recycling Contract

The Town of West Hartford signed a new two-year contract with ReCommunity Recycling this week, completely ending its decades-long relationship with Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority (CRRA).

West Hartford's trash and reclcying contracts with CRRA expired on Nov. 15, and earlier this year the town put both out to bid. On for waste disposal.

Beginning Friday, Nov. 16, ReCommunity Recycling, a national company with a regional facility in South Windsor, will replace CRRA on the recycling side.

"The expiring of the CRRA contract opened up opportunties. We felt it was best to separate the commodities," said Director of Public Works John Phillips.

West Hartford will now receive a guaranteed revenue benefit from recycling, Phillips said. With CRRA the town could earn a rebate, based on CRRA's performance. It averaged $5 per ton of recycling.

The new arrangement is a "direct sale," said Phillips, and the town will receive $7.50 per ton of delivered recyclables, plus earn a 50 percent market share on each ton. The 50 percent is calculated after the cost of processing, and is based on the market value of each type of material. Phillips said he hopes to receive a a total of $10 to as much as $20 per ton.

"Even if the market is flat, we still get $7.50," he said. He hopes to see at least $70,000 of income for the town from this contract.

Phillips said that ReCommunity is a very good company, and all they do is recycling. Four companies bid on the contract, which was restricted to businesses within a 15-mile radius. ReCommunity's bid will provide the best returns on investment.

"They will receive our recycling single stream. The difference to the homeowner or resident will be none," Phillips said. Paine's will continue to collect both trash and recycling from residents.

West Hartford currently generates about 7,000 tons of recycling per year, but he thinks the town can do better. This October, 60 more tons of material were recycled compared to last October.

The more people put into their blue bins, the more revenue the town will receive. "Recycle, recycle, and recycle some more," said Phillips. "It's up to us to increase the numbers."