An evaluation committee made up of three Islamorada officials and two council members are recommending a new, local company in Island Disposal Company as the next garbage hauler for the village in January 2024. The village council will mull the evaluation committee’s choice and approve a garbage hauler during the June 8 village council meeting.
A request for proposals for solid waste service in the village went out in March. It came after the council declined a five-year contract extension with Waste Management in February. Before its contract with Waste Management, Islamorada’s trash hauler was Advanced Disposal — that agreement dated back to 2013.
Three companies came back with proposals, which were reviewed by the evaluation committee on the afternoon of June 6 inside the Founders Park Community Center. When all was said and done, Island Disposal Company received the highest score from the committee, 408, followed by Atlantic Trash & Transfer, 393, and Waste Management, 320.
Sitting on the evaluation committee were Village Manager Ted Yates, Maria Bassett, finance director; A.J. Engelmeyer, public works director; Mayor Buddy Pinder and Councilman Henry Rosenthal.
Island Disposal Company is owned by Brian Lindback. He’s the former owner and operator of Key Largo’s Atlantic Trash & Transfer. Since 2008, the company has provided roll-off Dumpsters, large Dumpster bags and porta-potties. Lindback wrote to the village council members earlier in the year to express interest in bidding on garbage collection services in the village.
He said he sold his garbage hauling company in order to concentrate on running solid waste in the village. Glen Miller and Jim Wheatley, both Islamorada residents, would be Lindback’s partners.
“With what I have learned from owning and running Atlantic Trash & Transfer, and my desire to hire local employees, along with the extensive experience of my partners in the solid waste industry, I believe we will be a perfect fit to keep our solid waste operations local while highly qualified,” Lindback wrote to council members earlier in the year.
BREAKING DOWN SINGLE-FAMILY TRASH COLLECTION RATES
Information obtained by Keys Weekly details the pricing from each company’s 10-year proposal for trash collection, hauling and disposal for single-family residences in the village. A proposal by Atlantic Trash & Transfer detailed a monthly cost of $39.08, or $468.96 a year. Island Disposal proposed a monthly cost of $41.01, or $492.12 a year. Waste Management’s proposal detailed a monthly cost of $123.64, or $1,483.68 a year.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS ISSUED
A request for proposals (RFP) for trash collection was released March 6. The initial deadline for interested companies was April 11, but that was pushed back to May 16 due to a large number of questions and inquiries into the RFP. Companies had 71 days to prepare their proposals.
A decision to send the services out to bid was verbally supported by Vice Mayor Sharon Mahoney, Councilman Henry Rosenthal and Councilwoman Elizabeth Jolin.
“I’m interested in saving the residents money,” Mahoney said during the February meeting. “There might be a better option out there. It’s prudent for us to look into it.”
Councilman Mark Gregg proposed the idea of sending out an RFP while negotiating with Waste Management. Attorney John Quick told the council that wasn’t allowed. Pinder acknowledged that he wanted to avoid issues that Port St. Lucie residents saw with its trash and yard waste service. According to a March 2022 report by the Treasure Coast Newspapers, the city’s trash collector, Waste Pro, sent a letter acknowledging a breach of contract and a six-months notice that they’d be terminating service. It came after the company threatened to cancel its contract after the city didn’t pay back $1.2 million of the administrative charges the city withheld over the past three years for what it deemed poor service.
TRASH HAULING CHANGED IN 2020
In October 2020, Waste Management acquired Advanced Disposal for $4.6 billion. It was a welcome change for the village, which experienced efficiency issues with Advanced Disposal before the acquisition. Trucks frequently broke down, leaving full trash cans by the road. Eventually, those issues subsided as Waste Management’s fleet took over services.
Addressing the council in February, Greg Sullivan, district manager for Waste Management, said the service over the last 20 months was better than before with Advanced Disposal.
“Advanced Disposal did suffer because they were the stepchild of West Palm Beach (Waste Management headquarters). They had to get trucks from there and if they had trucks break down, it took days to get a truck down.”
Some 4,385 properties and 289 commercial customers receive garbage, yard waste and recycling collection.
