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MRC rejects sole recycling bid, reopens call for tenders

MRC rejects sole recycling bid, reopens call for tenders

It’s crunch time for the MRC Pontiac when it comes to finding a company to take on the storage and transportation of recycling from the county’s eight municipalities in which door-to-door collection is set to begin in January. At its June council of mayors meeting, the MRC announced Mont-Tremblant-based company Location Martin-Lalonde Inc. was the successful bidder for the door-to-door collection of recycling in Bryson, Campbell’s Bay, Portage du Fort, Allumette Island, Chichester, Sheenboro and Waltham, as well as seasonal collection in certain urban areas of Bristol. But the MRC is still trying to find a company that will be able to rent out bins for the storage of this recycling in each municipality after it’s been collected from households, and the transportation of this recycling to the sorting facility in Gatineau. At a special meeting called on July 10, the council of mayors voted to reject the only bid that had been submitted before the deadline for these services. The MRC’s environmental coordinator Nina Digioacchino explained the bid offered the services for prices that were far too low, based on what she knows of the costs involved with transporting the materials. “They suggested prices that would mean we would be paying half of what we’re paying right now,” she said. “Those were just red flags for me.” She emphasized that non-profit group Éco Entreprises Québec (EEQ), which took over management of the province’s recycling this winter, will be reimbursing 100 per cent of these costs, whatever they are, so it’s not a question of whether the MRC will be saving money or not. Digioacchino said she wants to be sure the MRC hires a service provider that will actually be able to deliver. She said because the council doesn’t meet in July, the special meeting was needed to be able to officially reject this sole bid, and open a new call for tender, which she was planning to open on July 16, with the hopes of getting a new round of bidders in time to approve one of them at the August council meeting. “With the EEQ we were actually supposed to have our contractors in place eight months prior to the start of the contract which is Jan. 1 2026,” she said. “We had already gotten an extension.” Digioacchino said the MRC did receive a second bid in the original call for tender, but it came in after the deadline. This company will be able to resubmit their bid in the MRC’s new call for tender. Composting tender to come Digioacchino said she is hoping to open a tender for the provision of composting collection and processing services in the coming months. The MRC was inviting expressions of interest for both services until July 7. It received one proposal for compost collection from a local company, and several proposals for the management of a compost processing facility, one of which was local. “Now we have some concrete numbers to work with on how much it would cost to implement door-to-door collection in the Pontiac for compost,” Digioacchino said, noting Fort Coulonge, Campbell’s Bay, Bryson and Sheenboro are all working towards introducing this service in January. “The biggest incentive with respect to compost and all of this is the difference in price with respect to getting rid of the [waste],” she said, explaining costs on average $350 a tonne to ship to landfill, across the MRC, while the most contaminated compost costs about $125 a tonne. She said she hopes to open this call for tenders after the August council of mayors meeting. Photo: Sophie Kuijper Dickson
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Sophie Kuijper Dickson
sophie@theequity.ca
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