Township Cuts Trash Collection to Once Per Week

Come May 2012, Southampton residents will only have trash pick-up once per week as opposed to the current schedule of twice weekly collection.

The Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 Tuesday evening to accept J.P. Mascaro’s bid to continue as the township’s waste hauler. 

Currently, residents pay a yearly $345 tax for trash disposal; this will be lowered to $340 come 2012 due to the new contract.

Township Manager Joseph Golden said the move to one trash collection day per-week will save the township a “significant” amount of money.

Golden said he hopes to the savings accrued over next few years to help fund street paving projects and purchase a new street sweeper.

The new contract, which will last for four years with the option to extend, also continues to give residents once a week recyclable collection and once a week yard waste collection between April 1 and December 15.

Also part of the new contract, J.P. Mascaro will deliver a new 64-gallon recyclable container to every home in the township, at no additional cost, starting sometime early next year.

“The goal is to get the recycling can bigger than the trash can,” Golden stated.

In April 2011 the township . The new system meant residents could co-mingle recyclables.

According to officials, recycling costs both the township and the trash hauler less money, as well as having the added benefit of being better for the environment.

Upper Southampton, along with neighboring Lower Southampton and Northampton, make up the Southwestern Bucks Solid Waste Committee (SBSWC). The SBSWC jointly looked for bids for a waste hauler, and then picked the most viable plan.

With board approval in Upper Southampton, the two remaining members of the SBSWC are expected to adopt the new contract in the coming weeks.

Waste Management and Republic Services also submitted bids for waste collection.