Town Services and Outreach Committee Oct 15, 2026

The Town of Amherst Town Services and Outreach Committee met on October 15, 2026, to review evaluation criteria for a prospective waste-hauler RFP. The committee discussed criteria covering sustainability practices and reporting, weekly or biweekly trash and organics collection, bulky-waste and yard-waste services, customer support, public education, and the transfer station. Members debated how the criteria should rank service options and whether the transfer station should remain integrated into the future system. Public commenters, including USA Waste & Recycling’s vice president of operations, raised concerns about worker safety, 45-gallon cart limits, multi-unit properties, food-waste diversion, public engagement, and the need for measurable environmental standards.

No waste-hauler contract award, RFP release, or procurement vote occurred. The committee made several edits to the evaluation matrix and left the transfer-station criterion unresolved. Town staff and procurement personnel are expected to continue revising the RFP, with a further committee review anticipated in roughly one to two months. Members described the RFP as a way to gather information and develop a later proposal; no final service model or spending amount was approved. The committee also recommended three appointments to town committees, but those actions were unrelated to procurement.