Weekly Report from the Mayor: Recycling (continued)

Recycling in our town continues to be an issue. Last week I addressed some of the problems with overfilled containers and wind blowing recyclables into other people’s yards. This week I am going to discuss on-going issues with the company which handles our recycling.

A number of years ago, the Borough government made a decision to no longer have our Department of Public Works pick up recycling. The Borough needed to purchase a number of expensive garbage trucks to continue this practice as well as employ the additional manpower to pick up recycling throughout the town. Consequently, the Borough entered into a contract with the Middlesex County Improvement Authority to pick up residential recycling.

The MCIA was created by county government to assist local governments and community entities. It runs the County recycling program, runs four public golf courses, and manages Roosevelt Care Center. It also operates a Capital Equipment Program to finance both equipment and capital improvements. MCIA also finances major infrastructure improvements such as large County facilities as well as financing equipment and capital improvements for municipalities.

MCIA is a public authority which operates like any NJ government and must follow the Open Public Meetings Act, the Open Public Records Act, and also all bid and procurement laws of the state. They go out to bid for the recycling contract every three years and are required to accept the lowest responsible and responsive bid which is state law. Because the MCIA provides recycling services for most of the towns in Middlesex County, they receive bids at a much lower rate than Middlesex Borough bidding by itself can get which saves our taxpayers a significant amount of money.

Due diligence

To make this point, in 2019, Middlesex Borough, dissatisfied with the service provided by MCIA’s contractor, Soltera, went out to bid on recycling services for just our town. 30 days later, only one bid was submitted and it was by Soltera for approximately $130,000 MORE than it was costing us with the same company provided by MCIA. This is because Soltera’s bid was for 7,500 houses here in town, vs. maybe 75,000 houses across the county. In 2019, the MCIA also put out a new bid for a new recycling contract. Although they received several bids, Soltera was the lowest responsible and responsive bidder and, by law, were awarded the contract again, even though their service to our community is not the best or most reliable.

Two years later, in 2021, we have mounting complaints about Soltera – that they are missing entire streets for pick up; that their employees are rude and use foul language; that their employees leave recycling all over the street or recycling cans and lids in the middles of the street; that they do not come back when homes are missed even though their contract states that they have 24 hours to return to pick up missed recycling.

Expecting the services paid for with tax dollars

We know many of you have made phone calls to our DPW and some of you even blame them for the poor service.

We have many issues that need to be addressed to provide decent recycling service to our residents including consistent pick up. We also expect Soltera’s employees to be courteous and respectful to our residents and their property.

Please know that we are having on-going discussions with MCIA leadership as well as Soltera executives to get the service you pay for with your tax dollars – not better service, but basic, decent service that we are already paying for. As of this writing, I expect the director of MCIA’s recycling division to participate at our March 23rd Council Meeting to answer questions and concerns of the governing body. There is room for great improvement with this necessary public service. Meanwhile, our DPW stands ready at our municipal recycling yard to assist you when you bring your recycling to us.