Garbage Collection for Disposal

Municipal Bidding Requirements
The laws and regulations regarding the requirement to advertise for sealed competitive bids for solid waste disposal have not been changed in any way by the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Atlantic Coast waste flow control case. The procedures, N.J.S.A. 40A:11-23, of the Local Public Contracts Law must be followed in all respects. This means that any change in hauling contracts can only be achieved once the existing contractual arrangement expires, and the new contract must be obtained through the public bidding process.

A municipality cannot go out for bid for disposal capacity outside of the two Morris County transfer stations.  The NJDEP has approved MCMUA's Administrative Action and all bid specifications for the disposal of solid waste must require that the waste be delivered to the appropriate MCMUA Transfer Station in accordance with the approved Plan.

In 1994 the MCMUA took over the operation of the transfer stations and is working hard to continue the trend it started in 1994 of decreasing disposal rates.  It is recommended that the municipality put itself in a position to benefit from rate decreases by incorporating appropriate language in their disposal bid specifications. Ideally, this can be done by establishing an account with the MCMUA to pay the tipping fees directly or by requiring the hauler to pass on all tipping fee reductions in the disposal contract.