You may have seen an orange truck with a DaPonte’s logo on the door and “Green Waste” with a recycling symbol on the side, cruising around town collecting yard waste bags. If you are wondering if it’s a public or private vehicle, it’s a little of both — DaPonte’s has been hired to take over a task long held by the sewer department.

For years, the town has disposed of the sewer department’s solid waste in part by mixing it with yard waste and creating compost. It’s a process that most municipalities are moving away from, and in fact, Bristol is the last of Rhode Island’s 39 towns to abandon the practice. That just left the question of what to do with all this sludge.

The practice of bio-drying the solids, which removes the water and thus two-thirds of the volume and weight, is the most cost-effective, and conveniently, Bristol has the facility space and staff to make that a viable alternative.

That decision, and the fact that compost sales have fallen flat, led to the Town taking another look at Sewer Department staffing requirements, as the collection of yard waste, which required three full time employees for seasonal work, has long been managed in-house by the sewer department.

With the approval of the Council, the Town put the collection of yard waste out to bid earlier this year, and according to Town Administratior Steven Contente, they did not receive any bids. A second RFP prompted a bid from DaPonte’s Landscaping Services for $1,160,597, over three years. In addition, DaPonte’s offered to buy the Town’s 2014 refuse truck for $45,000.

No members of the Sewer department were laid off, Contente stressed. The three impacted employees were offered vacancies within the Sewer and Public Works Departments; one has accepted another position while two will be retiring.

Salary alone for the one driver and two laborers, full time for a 7-month collection season, was $183,000, with cost-of-living increases taking that to $190,000 for the upcoming fiscal year. That is labor alone — total costs also include medical insurance, dental insurance, payroll taxes, state pension defined contributions, longevity pay, uniforms, vehicle fuel, vehicle maintenance, tires, vehicle replacement, auto insurance, and additional temporary employees.

Most recently, the in-house service cost $438,874 annually, not including the upcoming salary increases.

With the positive recommendation of DPW Director Chris Parella, Contente accepted the bid in the best interests of the Town.
The bid pricing is $370,000 in year one, $388,500 in year two, and $402,097 in year three, for a savings in year one alone at $76,009, which becomes $121,009 when you include the proceeds from the sale of the truck. These savings are needed to help absorb the additional cost of transporting and disposing of wastewater biosolids, with composting no longer a viable option.