By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Recycling of materials that are currently ending up in the county landfill may be possible for those opting into a new service to become available this spring. “Last year the city issued a Request for Proposals for recycling services in Nephi City,” said Seth Atkinson, city administrator. “The city received one response from a company called Recyclops.” For the service, each resident who wants to be part of the recycling program, will pay $9.50 per month for 104 bags a year regardless if the resident uses all of the bags. If a resident uses more than 104 bags a year, that resident will pay an additional fee to be determined by Recyclops with the consent of city. The city reviewed Recyclops’ proposal with a subcommittee made up of council members and staff, said Atkinson. The recommendation from the subcommittee was to pursue the proposal from Recyclops. Ryan Smith is the owner of Recyclops, said Atkinson. When the city first received the bid from Smith, he said, the company had agreed to provide service to Mapleton and was working to provide service to Vernal. Now there were 30 cities using the service. Nephi had hit it at a good time. “The role of the city will be to get people on board,” said Atkinson. “He thinks he can do the whole city in one day.” When Justin Seely, mayor pro tempore, called for a vote the council agreed, unanimously, to pass the agreement with the recycling company. “We talked about it earlier,” said Kent Jones, council member. At that time, the council had directed staff to put together an agreement for this new voluntary service and the resulting agreement was considered and approved by the council at meeting on Tuesday. Since the agreement was approved, an education campaign will start in preparation for adding new customers to the service. “The agreement was drafted by our city attorney, Kasey Wright, and has been reviewed and accepted by Recyclops,” said Atkinson. Recyclops, LLC, is a Utah limited liability company. “Two years ago,” said Nathan Memmott, council member, “we lost the cardboard recycling bins we did have.” No one had expressed interest in providing recycling to Nephi since then. One of the problems with recycling for Nephi has been the cost of trucks and the cost of hauling the materials to be recycled. “Recyclops provides a unique way of handling recycling,” said Atkinson. For one thing, they hire local drivers who will use their own equipment to provide curb-side service. “We solicited bids for a party to provide residential curbside pick-up of recyclable material within the corporate limits of the city,” said Atkinson. The agreement stated that Recyclops is to collect residential recycling for those residents who enlist in the optional curb-side recycling service. For those residents who opt-in to the recycling services, the city will include with its monthly utility bill the charge for Recyclops Recycling Services. However, the city is not responsible for billing for the recycling services if a resident is not receiving water and utility services from the city. For those residents who opt-in to the Recycling Services, Recyclops will provide them with 104 recycling bags a year. The city is entitled to $1 of the $9.50 monthly fee paid by residents because they will collect the fees for the recycling program and Recyclops will be entitled to $8.50 of the $9.50 monthly fee for providing the service to residents. “We wanted to make the service cost less than the cost of a second can,” said Atkinson. “Perhaps some residents will be willing to recycle and give up their second can.” The city is to remit to Recyclops its portion of the monthly fee the month after the city collects the fee. The city will also provide a payment report to Recyclops with the monthly payment to Recyclops. “Recyclops is responsible to inform residents of what is proper recycling material and the process for bagging such material,” said Atkinson. “Recyclops will collect the recycling bags twice per month.” Recyclops will use appropriate privately-owned vehicles to collect the recycling bags. Vehicles will be clearly marked as recycling pickup vehicles. Recyclops is responsible for handling all customer service with residents in regards to Recycling Services. The Term of this Agreement is one year beginning on March 1, 2019, and termination on February 29, 2020. However, the actual date when recycling will begin has not been set but is expected to begin this spring. First residents will need to sign up for the service, he said. “Will Recyclops still take cardboard?” asked Seely. They will, said Atkinson. The cardboard will need to be broken down and placed at curbside with the other materials to be recycled. “Cardboard has required us to make more trips to the landfill,” said Atkinson. “Most people don’t break it down and it fills the trucks so that we have to make more trips.” This was especially true at Christmas but was becoming a problem monthly because of online purchase and delivery service. “His drivers will pick up the recycling and haul it to a general area,” said Atkinson. Materials will be recycled from that point. Recyclops is an independent contractor and solely responsible for any and all damage, injury, or death resulting from Recyclops providing recycling Services. The recycling company will carry general liability/personal injury and property damage insurance with combined limits of not less than $1,500,000, auto liability/personal injury and property damage insurance with combined limits of not less than $1 million and Worker’s Compensation coverage as required by Utah law. The city will be listed as an additional insured on all identified insurance policies. Upon request, Recyclops is to provide city verification of the nsurance coverage. | 