Committee backs amendment to hire New Gen to expand Norwalk's food-scrap program study

The Norwalk City Public Works Committee on April 7 reviewed a proposed first amendment to the July 20, 2023 agreement with New Gen Strategies and Solutions LLC to provide municipal solid-waste consulting services not to exceed $42,500 and voted to send the authorization to the full City Council.

Chief of Operations Vanessa Valader told the committee the city's food-scrap program began as a pilot, has grown to three drop-off sites and is now funded in the operating budget. Valader said New Gen previously helped Norwalk write its solid-waste strategic plan and is familiar with the city's collection data and operations, so the consultant is well positioned to design an RFP and advise on collection methods and cost trade-offs.

"We thought it would make sense to re-engage New Gen and ask them to help us in this process," Valader said, noting the firm already understands Norwalk's routes and past procurement work.

Tom Zabbo, the city's solid-waste lead, described options the amendment would examine, including whether to keep services contracted or operate in-house, alternative collection methods, vessel or central-collection strategies, and a waste-characterization study that would quantify how much food and recyclables remain in the trash stream and the potential savings from diversion.

"If you make a slightly larger investment now you can save more money over the next five to 10 years," Zabbo said, explaining that a consultant's national expertise can show where modest scale changes yield larger savings.

Director of Sustainability Jodie Trenler said it was encouraging to see the program expand and urged that the consultant's work remain aligned with the city's long-term zero-waste goals so any local program can later fold into a regional effort should WestCOG develop one.

Several council members emphasized the importance of an education component and including schools in outreach to build long-term participation. Staff said Jodie Trenler's comments and other recommended language would be incorporated into later RFP steps and that public outreach capacity has expanded this year.

Committee members also asked about procurement: staff said the amendment is being presented as a single-source follow-on to New Gen's 2023 award because the firm already has deep project knowledge and project continuity is important.

The committee voted unanimously to move the amendment to full council for approval. If council approves the amendment, staff said the consultant would kick off work with a small stakeholder group and then develop an RFP and technical tasks for the city to evaluate collection and procurement options.