The City of South Portland established a food waste collection program in 2017 following a successful pilot program. As it stands, residents may bring their food waste to any one of five designated drop-off sites located around the City free of charge. To note, the City offers residents 1-gallon and 12-gallon bins for free to incentivize collection, and if residents wish to pay for curbside service, the City negotiated an alternative to Garbage to Garden’s private collection – a reduced rate for pick up only using the City bin (the bin is emptied, but not cleaned). South Portland’s climate action plan, One Climate Future, has ambitious goals for waste reduction and calls for the expansion of programs to divert food waste and increase organics recycling rates to ensure that food waste is used to nourish people, animals, industries, and soils. In order to help us meet our goals, the City of South Portland (“the City”) is soliciting proposals from qualified waste haulers (“service provider”) for a contract to haul food waste collected at South Portland’s community drop-off sites to a facility licensed to accept food waste. In addition to hauling services, the service provider will be responsible for furnishing and maintaining bins and signs at each site, collecting and reporting data on a monthly basis, and assisting the City with outreach and education.
