Emmaus Will Look for New Trash Collector

Emmaus Borough Council unanimously voted at its Monday night meeting to seek bids for garbage collection in the borough when its current contract with Raritan Valley expires.

The borough is on its last year of its Raritan Valley contract and with Monday night’s vote, council authorized Borough Manager Shane Pepe to put the wheels in motion that will allow Emmaus to go out for bids on a new contract.

Pepe told council that he and Public Works Director Jeff Clapper have been “bouncing back and forth ideas” on what a new garbage collection contract might look like, taking into account some of the facets of the current agreement with Raritan Valley that are less than desirable.

In particular, Pepe mentioned the fact that the Borough doesn’t know what the increases to the trash collection rates in the borough will be until February of each year because Raritan Valley bases those increases on the national fuel index, which this year amounted to a $3,000 increase.

“$3,000 doesn’t sound like a lot,” Pepe said, “but $3,000 is a high unexpected increase.”

Councilman Wesley Barrett brought up a concern that he’d heard from an Emmaus business person to be considered in shaping any proposed garbage collection contracts:

“This is a business owner who is closed on Monday,” Barrett explained, “and that’s the day recycling is picked up, which is challenging. If we could move the downtown pickup specifically, maybe to a Thursday, it would be much more conducive to the businesses, if they aren’t open on a Monday.”

Pepe added that the biggest complaint that he and his staff hears about garbage collection relates to bad weather. “If there is any inkling of bad weather, they don’t pick up,” he said.

Sending the trash pickup out for bid and the shape a new contract might take was put on the top of the Council’s General Administration committee’s agenda for its Wednesday meeting.