New Bedford Waste Services General Manager speaks before the Mashpee Board of Selectmen on November 4.
MASHPEE – The Mashpee Board of Selectmen is seeking an amendment to its contract with New Bedford Waste Services that will show the costs of final trash disposal and locations.
The town is charged $93.75 per ton for solid waste disposal.
New Bedford Waste Services General Manager Michael Camara said that is the same price charged by Zero Waste Solutions, another company operated by Camara which transports the waste to its final destination.
Selectmen are seeking the costs for Zero Waste Solutions.
Camara was before the board this week.
“What we asked you for was a bill from somebody who gets rid of our trash so that we could see that you were being charged, whatever the charge was so that we would have comfort that we were not paying for someone else’s trash,” said Selectmen chair Andrew Gottlieb.
“What you gave us was what two corporations that you control, bill one another, and then you turn around and bill us. What does that tell us?”
Camara said he does not run Zero Waste Solutions and only has a bill for what that company charges New Bedford Waste Services.
“What we understood was we were going to see what your costs were and all you are showing us is your own internal costs,” Gottlieb said.
Camara said he does not get to see what Zero Waste Solutions is charged for the final disposal of the solid waste.
New Bedford Waste Services also seeks to remove an amendment to the agreement which would disclose the final disposal costs.
“That’s what we agreed to the last time you were here,” said Selectman John Cotton. “That part I have a huge problem with.”
Town Manager Rodney Collins said he is refusing to pay the bill until the town receives the documentation that was promised by Camara.
Collins said he has also been informed the solid waste is being disposed of in Middleborough.
Camara said he does not believe the waste is being transported to Middleborough. He said he has been told the waste goes to locations in West Virginia, Ohio and Michigan.
Camara said the waste is brought from the town to a baler at Zero Waste in Rochester.
Town officials are also concerned about a crossed out part of the contract which would require the company to match a cheaper disposal price found by the town.
If amendments can’t be reached the town will seek a new contractor.
After months of contention, selectmen approved a requested price increase from its solid waste removal contractor in January.
New Bedford Waste Services sent a notification letter to the town on November 21 indicating it would be implementing a price increase for 2020 under an Uncontrollable Circumstances clause of the current contract.
The town entered into a 10-year agreement with the company for the disposal of solid waste in 2015.
The company requested an increase in the tipping fee to $93.75 per ton for 2020. The tip fee for 2019 was $59.23 per ton and that price was scheduled to increase to $60.71 this year.
Camara told the board that the waste disposal market is in crisis.
He said the company is working with three different companies, or brokers, to dispose of the solid waste it collects from its contracted communities.
The waste will be bailed into specially designed bags and transported to West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.
The new rate is locked in for 2020.
The price increase is due to diminishing capacity for disposal within the state and a reduction of overseas recycling markets.
With the new contract, the increase will add about $120,000 in costs for the town.
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