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Harrisville council renews Waste Management contract for three years; company touts recycling gains
Summary
The council approved a three-year renewal with Waste Management, accepting a standard CPI-based annual adjustment (the company cited a 5% standard CPI adjustment) and heard a recycling performance update showing Harrisville’s diversion rate rising to 11–12% in recent months.
Harrisville — The City Council voted to renew its contract with Waste Management for three years and accepted the company’s standard annual rate adjustment tied to CPI, after a presentation from the company’s government-affairs representative.
Blake, a government-affairs representative for Waste Management, told the council the market for waste and recycling has stabilized after volatility earlier in the decade. "Recycling has stabilized, and so that's what we see for the foreseeable future in the market," he said, and added that the company requested a three-year contract extension with a standard CPI adjustment. The representative explicitly cited a 5% standard adjustment for water, sewer and trash as part of the renewal discussion.
Why it matters: the contract governs collection and recycling services for the city and sets the pricing framework for residential and municipal service. Staff and the company also used the presentation to highlight recent recycling performance improvements for the city.
Recycling update and metrics
Waste Management reported Harrisville’s diversion (recycling) rate at about 11–12% in recent months, up from a typical 6–8% range. The company provided metrics emphasizing the environmental benefit of that improvement, stating the city saved the equivalent of hundreds of trees, tens of thousands of kilowatt-hours and tens of thousands of gallons of water across the last month of measured service.
Council action
A council member moved and a second was recorded; the council then voted and the motion carried to renew the contract for three years. The vote was recorded in open session and the council asked staff to finalize contract paperwork and publish the updated rates and terms to city channels as appropriate.
Ending note: the Waste Management representative encouraged additional engagement with Youth City Council and other local groups to continue outreach and education on recycling.
