Two regional trash service providers responded to Wright City’s call for service bids in November. Current trash provider Meridian Waste is competing with Grace Hauling to get a contract for a minimum of two years.

Wright City’s Board of Aldermen decided to seek bids this year after expressing dissatisfaction with Meridian’s performance. Aldermen will now have to consider whether to award a contract to Meridian anyway based on the service prices submitted in their bid,  or to switch to the competitor.

Because of the variety of housing types in Wright City, the service bids are broken up into a number of categories. 

For the main category of single-family houses, Meridian was the low bidder with a monthly cost of $9.25 per house in the first year. Grace Hauling bid $12 per house. Multiplied across Wright City’s 1,350 single family residences for 12 months, that gap of a few dollars could amount to a $44,550 difference in yearly cost.

For small scale multi-family and senior homes, Meridian was also the low bidder, offering service for a monthly charge of $8.75 per unit in the first year, while Grace bid $10.50. Wright City estimates there are 240 units that would be served under this bid.

For larger apartment complexes and senior housing, the companies bid prices based on the size of trash containers required. Here Grace had the advantageous bid, ranging in monthly costs from $40-$140. Meridian submitted bids of $57.50-$180.

The trash haulers were also asked to submit alternate bids for providing weekly single-stream recycling pickup, as well as bids for two trash pickups per week without recycling. The additions add an extra monthly cost of several dollars per household for both companies, but Meridian remained the low bidder for everything other than apartment complex services.