SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Council still talking trash

By Mary Brienza, Staff Writer
   Members of the Township Council are still talking trash at council meetings, but it has nothing to do with insulting each other.
   The council is planning for the upcoming garbage collecting contract bidding, and what the council members would like to be included in the new contract.
   At the April 12 council work session, the upcoming garbage contracts were briefly discussed and then moved to the upcoming work session May 3.
   The bids for the garbage contracts are planned to go out in June, and be considered in September, officials said.
   At a work session in December of last year, the council discussed some details on the considerations necessary for a garbage contract with the township, and what the contract would entail, but did not vote on it.
   New Brunswick-basedRepublic Midco. currently provides the Township’s garbage, dual stream recycling and the white goods pickups in a three-year contract that expires on Jan. 1, township spokesman Ron Schmalz said earlier.
   This contract initially caused controversy about when various types of garbage would be picked up when it was enacted two years ago, Mr. Schmalz said.
   The controversy was solved by leaving the service “as is,” Mr. Schmalz said.
   ”(Last time) we rewarded the lowest bid for more services performed,” Deputy Mayor Chris Killmurray said at the December meeting. “There is a lot of appreciation for services provided.”
   The annual $3.5 million contract covers weekly garbage, weekly recycling, the white pick-ups (pickups of washers, dryers, refrigerators, etc.) and any tonnage charges from the landfill, Mr. Schmalz said.
   White pick-ups currently take place four times a month, and residents can also call to have items picked up, he said.
   Mr. Schmalz said there is some discussion to either keep the white pickups at four times a month, or that could change to either once a month or once every three months, depending on what the council decides.
   There are also discussions on whether to keep the recycling pick up to once a week like it is currently, or to change it to every two weeks, Mr. Schmalz said.
   Also to be determined by the council is whether to have the more expensive dual stream (paper in one can and plastic, glass and cans in another) or single stream recycling, which has the items separated by the “handlers” in the township, Mr. Schmalz said.
   Electronic equipment, such as computers and televisions, are no longer collected but must be dropped off at the South Brunswick recycling center located behind the municipal building every second Saturday of the month from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. to comply with a state law that went into effect this year, Mr. Schmalz said.