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South Jordan weighs keeping weekly recycling as Ace Disposal wins hauling bid; council asks staff for cost options
Summary
City staff recommended awarding the hauling contract to Ace Disposal but warned weekly recycling will cost more under the new bid; council debated keeping weekly service to encourage recycling versus moving to biweekly pickups to limit resident rate increases and asked staff to return with detailed pricing scenarios.
Public Works presented council with results of a recent bid for residential waste and recycling hauling and a choice about service frequency at the Jan. 20 study session.
Director Garrison (introduced by the mayor as Director Garrison) told council the current hauling contract expires June 30, 2026, and that Ace Disposal — the city’s current hauler — won the new bid. Staff laid out two service options: keep weekly recycling (the current practice) or move to biweekly service. Garrison said that recycling markets are weak and the city currently pays roughly $59 per ton to recycle material (the contract splits that cost so the city’s share is roughly $30/ton), and that the audit of curbside carts showed many carts underfilled or contaminated.
Key figures staff provided: about 24,500 residential recycling carts in the city, roughly 32,000 tons of residential waste taken to the landfill in 2025 and about 5,000 tons sent for recycling. Under the contract numbers discussed, the city's per‑month hauling cost for garbage would rise from about $5.19 to $6.27 per cart; recycling hauling would rise from ~$5.30 per cart to about $6.74 if kept weekly, but would be about $4.58 per cart under biweekly pickup. Staff estimated maintaining current service levels would produce a roughly 11% effective increase on residential sanitation charges; moving recycling to biweekly would lower the recycling hauling charge but still require an overall garbage rate adjustment (staff estimated a 7–8% increase on garbage costs under some options).
Council members debated the choice, noting resident expectations for frequent service versus the small monthly price differences (many council members described the monthly delta as $1–$2 per household). Mayor Dawn Ramsey said she prefers preserving service levels where possible. Several council members asked staff to return with scenario graphs showing total resident bills for (1) weekly recycling with one cart, (2) biweekly recycling with one cart and (3) options for a second cart and corresponding charges, and to include options that would allow residents to opt out of recycling service if desired.
Next steps: staff will return in a few months with modeled rate options and visual comparisons so council can weigh resident impacts and finalize the new hauling contract details before the June 30 contract start date.
