Millburn Privatizes Garbage and Recycling Pickup
Township Committee awards $2 million contract to Newark company.
Recycling and garbage pick up will no longer be conducted by the township, but instead will be privatized, potentionally saving the township millions over the next five years.
The Millburn Township Committee Tuesday night awarded a $2-million 3-year contract for garbage and recycling pickup to the Giordano Company of Newark.
Committee Member Theodore Bourke presented a report on the cost savings, saying that moving away from using Department of Public Works will save about $800,000 the first year and possibly as much as $4.5 million in the next five years.
"It's one of those things where every objective was met and it was crystal clear that we had to do this," Bourke told Patch. "We would save money, maintain services and still take care of our employees. We were fortunate in that way."
Public Works employees who currently work in garbage collection will start working with the roads division and the township will reduce the number of trucks it has from 10 to five, using those for leaf collection.
Bourke said the township started planning for this more than a year ago and did not replace employees who retired or left, instead covering the workload with part-time employees and extra hours or overtime. So only about five or six employees transfered to the roads division to fill vacancies there.
Under the contract, garbage and recycling pickup days will remain the same, but the "above the call of duty" services will likely decline, he said. And, residents should get used to better following the guidelines.
The township has used Giordano in the past for recycling and the company familiar with the township, he said, and the company will start in January.
Bourke’s presentation on the contract is now posted on the township’s website.
Susan1
12:24 pm on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
What are "above the call of duty services?"
MarkDS
2:38 pm on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Apparently if you did not put your garbage out in time and called the DPW they would come and do a special pick up. This is according to the article in the Item (http://www.northjersey.com/news/135186503_Privatized_garbage_collection_begins_in_January_.html?c=y&page=1). i certainly was not aware of that accommodation.
My question is what about white goods pickup which was available by appointment?
J S Beckerman
1:08 pm on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
If the bulk of spending is personnel costs [salary, benefits, pension], wouldn't there be more cost savings if employees were terminated rather than re-assigned?
I would rather let a DPW person go than a teacher.
MarkDS
2:48 pm on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Totally separate organizations and budgets. One is not going to affect the other in any way.
Carolyn Most
9:47 am on Thursday, December 8, 2011
Cost effective town management ... great stuff. Look forward to more!
"Above the call of duty services" may refer to just picking anything and everything up regardless of what it is or what it is in. When I lived in Colorado, the private company contracted by the town actually provided these amazingly resilient 32 and 64 gallon plastic containers that were lifted by automatic means into the truck. Very efficient and only one employee per truck. They also had very strict rules about everything being sorted in provided containers - recycling, garbage, and compost - but had exceptions for things like moving boxes and allowed purchase of stickers for excess items. When does this go into effect?
my3sons
10:41 am on Thursday, December 8, 2011
this is grea news as long as they don't let the current employees go...
Leslie
10:44 am on Thursday, December 8, 2011
I wish they would do something about those of us who live in Zone 1 (Monday pickup for Trash & Recycling). We miss at least FIVE pickups a year because of all the holidays that are observed on Mondays. (MLK, President's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and the Mondays when holidays fall on weekends and are observed on Mondays.) For recycling, it means two weeks between pickups. Why should we receive less service than other residents? Many towns use a 6-day garbage cycle to avoid this problem.
my3sons
10:48 am on Thursday, December 8, 2011
not only that...but will the residents be billed by Giordano or will the township be paying for them since this is included in our taxes. If the residents are paying Giordano, then yes, I would like my pick up day upgraded to reflect other than a Monday pick up and my taxes lowered a bit now that we will be paying for garbage and recycling pick up.
MarkDS
11:12 am on Thursday, December 8, 2011
The provision of the service is being outsourced. We will not be billed directly by Giordano. Our recycling pickup has been outsourced for some time now (look at the truck). This just changes the regular pickup to the same model.
Kelly
11:59 am on Thursday, December 8, 2011
With the news this week about the continued links between NJ garbage comapnies and organized crime, are we supporting an illegal enterprise by makin the switch?
vanessa
2:40 pm on Thursday, December 8, 2011
STILL does not solve the problem of getting the month and a half old leaves and branches off the streets! I watched a landscaping company throw branches into the middle of Highland Ave this week. From the looks of the house, owners could have paid to have them removed but noooo so Millburn needs to Stop spending money on a ridiculous snowflake parade or our tacky old ornaments and CLEAN THE STREETS. It is hazardous driving out there now.
MarkDS
3:01 pm on Thursday, December 8, 2011
The snow flake parade is a wonderful community event but it is basically an advertising and promotional vehicle paid for by the local businesses. The town is not on the hook.
Plus why are you blaming the town for the actions of landscapers. At this point in time they are not supposed to be putting any branches on the street. They are supposed to be removing them.
Leslie
2:59 pm on Thursday, December 8, 2011
I very much agree that the branches and leaves are in a dangerous state. On many roads they case traffic to narrow to a single car-width right near blind curves. The storm happened over a month ago and the town is still failing us. This should be a priority and Patch should run an article on how much debris is still there. We paid plenty for our cut-down branches to be disposed of by the tree-care people. I guess we are fools.
Laura Griffin
4:43 pm on Thursday, December 8, 2011
Here is an update from earlier this week regarding the leaves. DPW is trying to get them picked up by Jan. 1 and hoping for no snow. If you have pictures you want to share, please post. http://patch.com/A-ppcx
vanessa
10:34 pm on Thursday, December 8, 2011
Leslie, I couldn't agree more with you. The town is/was trying for homeowners to get rid of their own debris. Some of us paid a lot of money to clear our property and after watching landscapers throw branches (and tree trunks!!) in the street, I was pissed. I did my part and this town should fine the homeowners. Mark, I am blaming the town for the landscapers because this town is leaving the debris on the already narrow streets and taking their sweet time clearing it up. Do you really think the landscapers obey township/leaf collection laws? Drive around and see the piles of debris left in the MIDDLE (not the curb) of the street. Leaves on my street are a mile high and have not been collected in over a month and the street is narrow to begin with. I just hope the streets are cleared of all before it snows.
MarkDS
5:46 am on Friday, December 9, 2011
Vanessa, landscapers are not opaying the rules. My block was cleared by the town and THEN AFTER it was clear more branches were put on the street, so it is no longer clear. It may be time for the town to start fining homeowners for the actions of their landscapers.
Charles
7:20 am on Friday, December 9, 2011
Leslie - I enjoyed reading your comment about zone 1. We live in zone 4, with the same problem. Pickup on Monday and recycling/pickup on Thursday. The pickup is skipped on Monday and on all the holidays which fall on Thursday, like Thanksgiving, and Christmas/New Years in many years. As to leaf pickup, leaves in our area were picked up a week early, just before we were supposed to put them out to the street. So rather than fining the landscapers who put them out early, the town decided to reward them. There has been no pickups in the several weeks since, so the leaves put out at the correct time have been sitting, wet, slick, and moldy, on the street.
Leslie
10:11 am on Friday, December 9, 2011
You are correct that Zone 1 also loses trash service on Thursday holidays which is always Thanksgiving (a day with a lot of kitchen trash!). And this year, July 4th was on a Monday, so we lost at least 7 days of trash pickup, not counting cancelled pickups due to storms.
Leslie
10:09 am on Friday, December 9, 2011
I don't think we can blame the homeowners. After the storm, the town expressly said they would collect branches so long as they were cut up and less than a certain diameter. As far as I know, that offer has not been rescinded and many homeowners are still recovering from the storm (because of the backlog of tree care companies who can cut down dangerous dangling branches). The town has simply failed to do what it said it would, and certainly failed yet again in terms of communication. Why aren't instructions and an update on the town website? I'm glad Patch is on top of this with the occasional story, but it really isn't hard to share community information in 2011. The streets remain dangerous. I have seen cars swerve at high speed around leaf and branch piles to avoid oncoming school buses.