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Carmel joins regional partners to open competitive RFP for 2030 solid‑waste franchise
Summary
Following a year‑long technical committee review, the City Council voted to proceed with a regional competitive RFP process for solid‑waste, recycling and organics collection ahead of the current contract's 2030 expiration. Staff said the move aims to preserve service quality while testing affordability and labor protections.
The Carmel-by-the-Sea City Council voted unanimously on May 5 to authorize staff to participate in a regional competitive request‑for‑proposals process for solid‑waste collection ahead of the current multi‑jurisdiction GreenWaste franchise expiration in 2030.
City staff and HF&H consultants presented findings from a statistically valid public survey and a technical advisory committee (TAC) subgroup that had studied service satisfaction, cost sensitivity and industry interest. The survey showed a high overall satisfaction rate with front‑line collection service but a materially larger share of Carmel respondents reporting concerns about missed pickups and perceived cost. TAC staff described a competitive marketplace and said several regional operators—including Waste Management and Republic—expressed interest in submitting proposals. GreenWaste, the incumbent, participated in the outreach and told the committee it would be willing to negotiate as an incumbent but also provided estimated cost paths tied to capital replacement.
The TAC subgroup recommended a transparent RFP as ‘‘good governance’’ when entering a long‑term, household‑paid franchise; the process is intended to help member agencies confirm affordability, service reliability and to evaluate labor protections for frontline workers. The recommended timeline will produce an RFP in late 2026, proposal evaluation in 2027 and jurisdictional contract adoption in 2028. Carmel staff noted local service features previously negotiated into the current agreement—beach and village maintenance, cardboard programs and business service levels—would be included as options that jurisdictions may tailor.
Speakers from local haulers, the regional recycling authority (Regen Monterey), and neighboring agencies testified during public comment. Waste Management encouraged a competitive process; GreenWaste emphasized its long service record and said it was open to sole‑source negotiation or a negotiated extension if councils favored that path. Representatives from Regen, Pebble Beach and other member agencies emphasized the complexity of coordinating a multi‑jurisdiction transition and urged a clear integrity policy for communications during procurement.
Councilors discussed the relative advantages of sole‑source extensions for incumbents versus market testing. After deliberation the council adopted the TAC recommendation to proceed with the competitive RFP and to approve a voluntary process‑integrity policy to govern communications during the procurement process. Councilors stressed each jurisdiction would retain autonomy to decide whether to sign a final agreement and noted explicit off‑ramps along the timeline if individual cities prefer different outcomes.
