Dive Brief:

• Fort Wayne, IN has issued an invitation to bid for various waste and recycling contracts with the consulting aid of Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc. (GBB). The firm will work with the city to review bids, conduct interviews, make recommendations and help with final contract negotiations.
• The city offers waste collection and disposal for about 81,000 households, including multi-family buildings. A seven-year waste collection contract with the option for a three-year extension is available. The disposal contract is not available.
• Additionally, about 71,000 households currently have their recyclables collected and a separate seven-year collection contract with the option for a three-year extension is available to provide that service. A third contract for the processing of these recyclables is available for either a seven-year or 10-year term.

Dive Insight:

GBB worked with Fort Wayne to award new contracts in 2010 and the city later won an award from the Solid Waste Association of North America in 2012. Republic Services currently holds both collection contracts for Fort Wayne and also processes its recyclables. The company helped implement a switch to single-stream recycling in 2011 which has led to increased participation rates in the years since.

Fort Wayne is part of the larger Allen County Solid Waste Management District which is currently focusing its efforts on food waste diversion. The district is hosting a summit on organic waste diversion this week to discuss new ideas for managing the material. A new composting operation for frozen food scraps in Lake County recently received a grant from the state's Department of Environmental Management to expand processing options in the area.

Indiana is barely one-fifth of the way toward its 50% diversion rate goal, but new programs and new contracts offer potential opportunities to improve the situation. The executive director of the Indiana Recycling Coalition was also recently elected to the state's House of Representatives and the state has a new governor, so fresh ideas could change the dynamics as well.