Knoxville, Tennessee, says its new hauling contract will yield savings

The city council of Knoxville, Tennessee, has approved a new trash hauling contract with The Woodlands, Texas-based Waste Connections that it says will save taxpayers $2.9 million during the 10-year course of the contract.

The new contract was approved at a council meeting in mid-October, according to an online report from the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

The city council says the new contract will lead to approximately $2 million in savings per year “for at least the next seven years,” according to the newspaper report.

Waste Connections reportedly bid $2.9 million, which was the lowest of four bids submitted and was “about $2 million less per year than [the company] had previously charged the city,” according to the News-Sentinel.

The lower bid price was made possible by increased collection automation and the uniform, citywide use of 95-gallon garbage carts. Those carts will be delivered to residents during the last three months of 2016, according to the article.