Background

At their October 13, 2008 meeting, the City Council approved a resolution that directed the City Staff and the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA) to begin Franchise Agreement negotiations with Norcal Waste Systems of San Mateo County to become the new Solid Waste, Recycling and Organics Collection firm in San Carlos starting on January 1, 2011. Negotiations with Norcal Waste Systems to develop the new Solid Waste Franchise in San Carlos began in March 2009.

Agencies (5/6), Tons (85.6%) Committed to Norcal

The City of San Carlos is one of 5/6 of the SBWMA agencies (10 of 12) to move these services to Norcal Waste Systems in 2011. More significantly, these 10 agencies represent over 85% of the Solid Waste tonnage among the SBWMA agencies as shown in the table below:

 

	Agency	% of Waste Stream
	San Mateo	22.7%
	Redwood City	21.1%
	Menlo Park	9.4%
	San Carlos	7.7%
	Foster City	7.1%
	East Palo Alto	5.7%
	Belmont	5.4%
	San Mateo County	3.6%
	Hillsborough	1.8%
	West Bay Sanitary	1.1%
	Total Tonnage to Date	85.6%

Why Did San Carlos Select Norcal Waste Systems?

In the report to the City Council, the City of San Carlos Staff noted that the focus of the SBWMA and City selection process was to find a company that could provide the best Solid Waste, Recycling and Organics Collection services for our residents and businesses. The conclusion of both review processes was that Norcal Waste Systems of San Mateo County was the firm that best met this goal. Some of the key benefits of moving to the new agreement with Norcal Waste Systems are:

1. The entirety of Norcal’s responses (i.e., original proposal, written answers to technical and cost specific questions, and technical interview performance) were the most thorough and complete of the four proposers.
2. Norcal offers a combination of experience, technical ability, commitment to diversion and high service delivery, and pricing that sets it apart from the other three proposers.
3. Norcal was awarded the most points for its cost proposal due to the strength of its cost proposal in both competitiveness and reasonableness. While the costs proposed were marginally higher than the lowest cost proposal from Allied Waste, the supporting explanation and rationale provided for these costs was the most thorough, complete and reasonable of all four proposals.
4. The scope of services proposed by Norcal provides the highest comfort level of the four proposers regarding the company’s ability to ensure a smooth transition, outstanding service delivery, accurate reporting, and consistently high diversion rates.
5. Norcal is an experienced solid waste, recycling and organics collection company providing service to one of the most mature and largest Single Stream and Organics Recycling programs in California (City & County of San Francisco). The company pioneered Commercial Organics Recycling Collection Service in Northern California and is highly committed to diversion from all service sectors.
6. Norcal’s proposal includes the high levels of diversion and is specifically strong in the area of Commercial Recycling and Organics Collection Service and in the On-Call (Bulky Items) Collection Service. The company has put forth an aggressive, yet achievable Commercial Recycling diversion goal and innovative approach to attain the desired results.
7. Norcal’s proposal included environmental enhancements including the use of B-40 fuel (40% bio diesel), regular carbon footprint monitoring and reporting, use of hybrid trucks for route supervisors, and incorporating green building practices and standards at its facilities.
8. Norcal will provide a free 6 month Commercial and Multi-Family Dwelling “Recycling Blitz” program (estimated to cost $478,435) and will remit to the SBWMA Member Agencies the revenue derived from the recyclable material that is collected during this program (estimated at $210,000).
9. Norcal will provide at no added cost several additional programs including Coats for Kids, Compost Giveaways (now a charged service by Allied Waste), Annual Cart and Bin Cleaning, Garage Sales Coordination Services (a recent City Budget Cut), Confidential Materials and Document Destruction Services and Carbon Footprint Measuring.