McKinney City Council recently named two new service providers that will be managing waste collection and recycling citywide beginning October 2024.
A meeting held in August saw bids from Frontier Waste Solutions and Balcones Recycling selected — the lowest proposals made to the city’s request made in late 2022.
“For me as a consumer of this … what matters to me [is] my service continues to be what it is for a better price and I get a better outcome,” explained Council Member Justin Beller, according to Community Impact.
Utility rates have increased lately, with the North Texas Municipal Water District upping its prices for water and sewer services for member cities across the region, including McKinney, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
Like many cities, McKinney has proposed higher rates for these services — bumps of 7% and 8%, respectively — in the budget for fiscal year 2024.
In terms of trash collection and recycling, the city fielded four bids in its request for proposals, which Assistant City Manager Steve Tilton explained were considered based on a scoring process, according to Community Impact. This took into account various factors, including each company’s qualifications, financial history, and cost of service.
Justin-based Frontier Waste Solutions placed a trash collection bid for a seven-year contract at under $14.2 million per year.
Waste Connections — McKinney’s current provider headquartered in The Woodlands — and Arizona-based Republic Services submitted bids with annual costs of $3 million and $6 million more than Frontier Waste Solutions, respectively.
Austin-based Balcones Recycling similarly proposed its recycling services at a lower annual cost compared to the competing bids placed by Waste Connections and Republic Services. The 15-year contract will cost $824,000 annually, plus the company will erect a new facility to service the area.
While the site has not been selected, the 120,000-square-foot structure will cost an estimated $60 million and create as many as 50 new jobs when it opens in early 2026.
Official contracts with both service providers are being drawn up by McKinney city staff.
