INTRODUCTION The City of Bellevue (the “City”) is requesting competitive proposals from qualified firms for solid waste collection services within the City Service Area. These services include: residential and commercial garbage, recycling, and organics (yard debris and food scraps) collection, the delivery of garbage to a King County facility per the City’s interlocal agreement, and the processing and marketing of collected recyclables and organics. The initial contract term will be for ten (10) years, from July 1, 2028 to June 30, 2038, with a City option for an extension of up to two (2) years. Terms used in this RFP that are defined in the Contract have the meanings assigned to them therein. Defined terms are applicable to both the singular and plural. EXISTING COLLECTION SYSTEM This section generally describes the existing solid waste collection system operated under the current contract. Carefully review Brief Scope of Services, Attachment “A”, and the draft 2028 Contract (Exhibit A) to determine the scope of operations envisioned under the new Contract. The City’s current contract with Republic Services is available to Proposers upon request. The City of Bellevue has a residential population of approximately 158,000 with approximately 30,800 single-family residential customers and approximately 2,000 multi-family, commercial, and drop-box accounts. The existing collection system is operated under contract with total contractor billings of approximately $37 million in 2025. Garbage collection is voluntary for generators within the City. Single-family Collection Single-family residences are provided weekly garbage collection under a variable rate structure. Under the new contract, Residents will be required to use a contractor-provided garbage cart for basic service, but may use their own containers for extra material. There are approximately 200 single-family residential customers who currently use their own container who will need to transition to a contractor-provided container. Weekly single-family recycling collection is included as part of garbage collection service. Most recyclable materials are placed in the recycling cart except for small appliances and electronics, textiles, and large metal items. Weekly single-family organics (i.e., yard debris and food scraps) collection is also included as part of basic collection services, through the use of 96-gallon carts. Customers may also use Kraft bags and place bundled or boxed materials at the curb as well as rent additional yard debris carts from the Contractor if more than one cart is needed. Customers may set out up to 192 gallons of material per collection, with additional materials accepted for a charge. Non-garbage customers may also subscribe to either or both recycling and organics collection services on a fee-for-service basis. The City has an assignable right to the carts used under the current contract and will assign the ownership of those carts to the Contractor performing services under the new contract. As described in Section 4.1.3 of the draft 2028 Contract (Exhibit A), bill assistance is to be provided to eligible single-family residential customers by the Contractor billing these Customers a reduced percentage of the regular rate for the subscribed service level. The estimated approximate number of eligible Single-family Residential customers and respective rate reductions are: 70% Rate Reduction: 450 Single-family Residential customers (Senior (62+) households at 50% or less of area median income). 35% Rate Reduction: 1,250 Single-family Residential customers (80% or less of area median income). Commercial and Multi-family Collection Multi-family complexes are provided with commercial garbage services, as well as a recycling and organics program that accepts most of the same materials handled by the single-family recycling program. Commercial and Multi-family Complex garbage collection is provided through the use of customer-owned containers and drop-box compactors, as well as contractor-owned carts, detachable containers, and drop-boxes. A range of sizes and collection frequencies are available. Commercial and Multi-family Complex customers currently are provided unlimited recycling and one hundred ninety-two gallons (192) of organics collection per week, via cart service, per garbage container. The City anticipates offering a bill assistance program for multi-family residents. The planned program has a rebate structure and will be funded and directly implemented by the City. There are no rate reductions for the Contractor to implement in regard to this multi-family resident bill assistance program. Disposal All collected garbage is currently delivered to the King County Disposal System per the City/County Interlocal Agreement. Administration The City is responsible for overall solid waste program administration, including managing the collection contract and providing solid waste education and promotion to the public. These activities are funded through an administrative fee and targeted program fees paid to the City, as provided for in the current contract. This system of funding will change under the new contract to a single annual contract fee paid by the contractor to the City. These programs have traditionally been performed through in-house staff or the use of consultants. The solid waste collection contractor is responsible for providing all services, including, but not limited to, customer service, customer billing, distributing public notices about collection service and schedule changes, such as holiday hours, billing adjustment notices, and other service-related communications, as described in the draft 2028 Contract (Exhibit A). RFP Exhibits: Exhibit A provides the draft 2028 Contract, which details all the services expected to be performed by the future contractor. Exhibit B provides 2025 collection data by sector/collection program and customer container counts. Exhibit C provides 2026 rates charged by the current contractor to all sectors of customers. Proposal Form 2A provides a listing of service levels desired under the new Contract and customer counts (where available) for services provided under the current contract. The customer counts provided on Form 2A have been reported by the current contractor, and unless noted otherwise in the instructions or footnotes to Proposal Form 2A, are accurate to the best of the City’s knowledge. RFP OBJECTIVES The City has identified the following objectives for future solid waste services: Alignment with best practices Responsive to community needs: reliability, affordability, user experience Compliance with state laws and local policy Leverage technology and data Along with these objectives, the City also intends to maintain key contract elements, including weekly collection services for single-family residents and an embedded rate structure. The RFP structure and terms, sample base contract, proposed alternatives, and evaluation process are intended to support these objectives.
