San Diego to spend $33M in new hauling contracts

San Diego is agreeing to new five-year contracts totaling more than $33 million for equipment needed to haul residential trash to Miramar Landfill and to compact the waste once it’s there, reports The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The City Council is scheduled to approve a $28.8 million contract May 12 for five track-type bulldozers, two landfill compactors, two wheel-tractor scrapers, one excavator, one wheel dozer and one compact track loader. The bulldozer contract, which is with San Diego-based Hawthorn Machinery Co., includes $50,000 per year for repairing damage to equipment caused by the harsh operating conditions at the landfill, city officials said.

The contract does not expand landfill or greenery operations at Miramar. Because the contract covers equipment for an existing facility, the city is not required to analyze its potential impacts on the environment.

On April 7, the council also approved a $4.2 million contract for tires needed to operate the city’s fleet of 138 refuse collection trucks and recycling packers.

The tire contract, which is with Parkhouse Tire, San Diego, covers the repair, maintenance and replacement of heavy-duty tires for the city’s fleet of refuse and recycling packers. The 138 trash haulers are needed because of the “People’s Ordinance,” a city law that provides free trash pickup to single-family homes in San Diego. Commercial properties, apartments and condominiums must contract with private haulers.

This comes following a 2011 city analysis that determined tire maintenance was more efficiently handled by an outside contractor than by city staff.

Parkhouse Tire won the contract in a competitive bid against Border Tire, Blaine, Washington, who proposed handling the work for $4.4 million. Parkhouse submitted a bid of $3.8 million, but the contract was finalized at $4.2 million because it includes a 10 percent contingency.