City of Van Buren Residential Sanitation Collection

City of Van Buren Residential Sanitation Collection

City of Van Buren Residential Sanitation Collection Bill Insert November 2024

CARDS Van Buren Residential Sanitation Collection Mailer December 2024

In 1992, the Van Buren City Council adopted an Ordinance implementing a mandatory Residential Sanitation Collection program for single family residential units within the city limits beginning January 1, 1993. The City of Van Buren Municipal Utilities was tasked with the oversight of the program including the Residential Sanitation Agreement and billing and collections.  Since January 1993 several Residential Sanitation Collection Firms have been contracted to provide services, including: Friendly Sanitation, Mulberry Sanitation, Taylor Sanitation, Roll-Off Services, Deffenbaugh Industries, and Waste Management. The current Residential Sanitation Collection Agreement between the City of Van Buren Municipal Utilities and Waste Management of Arkansas expires on December 31, 2024.  In June 2024, the Residential Sanitation Collection Agreement was updated and advertised for competitive bids following standard municipal procurement regulations and guidelines.  In addition to bid amounts, each bidder was required to provide a statement of financial ability to carry out the Agreement, a listing of all cities and towns the firm was currently providing services for, a compliance record, and other pertinent information.

No (0) bids were submitted for a traditional Manual Collection system (current system). Three (3) bids were submitted for an Automated Collection System utilizing Contractor provided Residential Solid Waste and Recycling Containers (Polycarts) and automated collection equipment for both Solid Waste (garbage) and Recycling collection. Bids were submitted by LRS, Waste Management, and CARDS. The Residential Sanitation Agreement was awarded to CARDS River Valley, beginning January 1, 2025. 

Currently, City of Van Buren Residents pay $16.24 per month for Residential Sanitation Collection Services (including yard waste collection and drop-off provided by the City of Van Buren Street Department). Beginning January 1, 2025, the average resident will pay $17.94 per month, the same system and service with LRS would have been $20.23 per month, Waste Management would have been $27.48 per month. Residents will receive one (1) Polycart for garbage and one (1) Polycart for recycling (recycling polycart provided upon request, recycling participation is voluntary) – customers needing additional polycart(s) (in addition to one (1) garbage polycart and one (1) recycling polycart) will be charged an additional fee, recycling participation is highly recommended to reduce the need for additional garbage polycart(s). 

Van Buren residents will be able to contact CARDs to schedule the collection of Bulk Waste Items (furniture, etc.), the charges for this service will be added to the VBMU bill.  The Agreement also provides for additional dumpsters for two (2) City wide clean up events per year (normally coordinated by Keep Van Buren Beautiful)

CARDS will begin delivering residential polycarts in December 2024.  Please do not use the polycart(s) until January 1, 2025.  Waste Management will not collect garbage or recyclables from the CARDS provided containers. 

During this transition process, several cities and towns were visited to observe both manual collection systems utilizing customer provided garbage bags and containers and automated collection systems utilizing contractor provided polycarts. It was observed that the cities and towns utilizing the automated collection system had a better overall appearance on garbage collection day.  Across the nation, the majority of cities and towns and residential collection firms are rapidly transitioning to the automated collection system as evidenced by Van Buren’s bidding process receiving zero (0) bids for a manual collection system.  We respectfully ask that our residents have patience with CARDS employees and City of Van Buren Municipal Utilities staff during the transition process and help us move Van Buren forward with an up-to-date comprehensive solid waste management system.

Kindest Regards,

VBMU Director of Utilities