Ocean County, NJ awarded a five-year contract to Waste Management to operate the county-owned recyclables processing center in Lakewood, NJ. The decision to go with Waste Management, which presently operates the MRF, was made at the county Freeholders meeting Oct. 4. The new contract will begin Jan. 1, 2007.
The contract includes a revenue sharing arrangement, whereby if WMI reaches a maximum tonnage level of 69,000 tons a year of recyclables they receive 57 percent of the revenue from the sale of the material. If the company fails to reach the level there is a sliding scale for the revenue sharing.
To maximize the efficient collection and processing of the materials Waste Management is looking to install close to $3 million in equipment to allow the MRF to perform singl-stream collection and processing of material.
Additionally, according to local press reports the county approved $1.5 million in capital funds to improve the recycling site and prepare the facility for the new equipment. The MRF handles bottles, cans, old newspapers, mixed paper and a number of other curbside collected materials.