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Selectmen review draft RFP for solid waste and recycling; set timeline for proposals
Summary
Town staff presented a draft request for proposals for Plaistow's next solid-waste and recycling contract; selectmen discussed service options, cart replacement, recycling market risk, and asked to receive final proposals by November 1 for award before 2027 contract start.
Town staff presented a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the town's next solid‑waste and recycling contract at the June 16 Board of Selectmen meeting, outlining the scope of work, optional (alt) add‑ons and suggested timelines for award.
The current contract expires at the end of 2026, prompting the town to begin procurement now. The draft RFP proposes a base bid for weekly curbside municipal waste collection with optional alt add‑ons for weekly or biweekly curbside recycling, bulk pickup options, electronics and white‑goods collection, and enhanced cardboard‑dropoff capacity. Staff proposed adding a fifth cardboard dumpster at the transfer site and set performance expectations for regular emptying.
Staff said they did not include specific route organization details in the RFP text and recommended negotiating routing and operational details during contract discussions. The draft also leaves the current town‑owned cart inventory (about 150 recycling and 150 waste carts) in place and lists cart replacement as an alt add for proposers to bid. Dan (highway/operations) will continue to swap out damaged carts in the near term; the board discussed whether to shift replacement responsibility to a vendor during negotiation.
Selectmen raised recycling‑market risk and vendor liability; staff noted many vendors hesitate to bear full responsibility for recycling markets and recommended discussing liability in the negotiation stage. Other topics included residential complaint handling (staff recommended the town remain the local contact to manage and track complaints rather than an 800 vendor line) and equipment‑failure cleanup responsibilities (current contract places cleanup responsibility with the vendor).
The board set procurement timing: staff recommended final proposal submissions by November 1 to allow award and contract negotiations in time for the 2027 contract start and to avoid the short turnaround problems encountered in the last procurement. Selectmen favored a mandatory pre‑proposal meeting to let vendors ask questions and to show interested parties who else is bidding.
Staff will return with a final RFP and a proposed schedule based on the board’s November 1 deadline; selectmen said they want to review mandatory pre‑proposal meeting logistics at the next meeting.
