San Francisco Votes to Uphold Recology Contract

Date: June 5, 2012

Source: News Room

San Francisco voters rejected a proposal (Proposition A) that would have opened the city's waste collection and recycling contract, currently with Recology, to competitive bidding. Proponents of the measure were calling for an end to the "stranglehold" on the city from a no-bid contract, which has been included in San Francisco's City Charter since 1932. Recology holds all of the permits for refuse collection, inherited from its predecessor companies, including Sunset Scavenger, Golden Gate Disposal and Norcal Waste. The measure had been pushed by a retired local judge and a community activist, who had claimed that the city could reduce its waste disposal and recycling costs by allowing other companies to bid for the waste services contract. Recology generated $539 million in revenue in 2010, making it the twelfth largest waste management firm in the US, and the second largest privately-held firm.

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