THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF PORT COQUITLAM

MEMORANDUM

TO: City Administrator May 7, 1987

FROM: City Engineer

SUBJECT: Review of Canus Container Proposal ~ Public Works Committee May 5, 1987

Recommendation:

That the City call for Proposals for the supply of containers to be used with an automated container pick-up service and that the call for proposals request details of the offer to the residents and specify conditions under which the City will enter: into an agreement with the company and the minimum compensation required by the City to cover the costs of the service.

Background and Comments:

The Public Works Committee received a copy of a report from the Deputy City Engineer which was available to members of Council through the Public Works Committee minutes. This report was requested as a resuit of representations to. the Committee and to Council by residents of the Mary Hill area who wished to have Council reinstate the Canus Container Service.

At the time of Council's previous rejection of the service, one of the perceived problems was a reduction jin the level of service to other residents due to the problem of heavy object pick-up. Since that time the City has instituted a method of pick~up whereby the heavy items are left unti! the end of the route and then placed in the hopper of the garbage truck rather than being cycled through the compressor. This method has been in use for a number of weeks and appears to work satisfactorily. It will be continued with or without the implementation of a container service. We have also done a detailed estimate of the costs of provided a container service, This detailed estimate is only based on records from a short trial period and on conjecture as to the reduced Iife of the vehicle. Estimated direct costs, assuming a 60% usage of the container, amounts to about $21,000. In addition, an allowance for extra costs due to the extra length of time that it might take to pick-up the containers comes to about $30,000. This latter amount is very difficult to estimate and theretore must be considered totally speculative. Both the amounts are also somewhat dependent on the percentage usage of the system. Fewer containers in use would result in lower costs.

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