Case Studies

Project Background

The City of Hermosa Beach’s exclusive solid waste agreement was expiring and the City retained HF&H to assist the City in determining whether to enter renegotiations with the current hauler or to seek competitive proposals, and then to assist the City by conducting the selected process.

Specific issues before the City included:

• Renegotiation versus competitive bidding
• Transition to a volume-based rate structure
• Implementation of residential green waste collection
• Automation of residential collection

Additional challenges included narrow streets, customers’ limited container storage space, challenging terrain for collection, cleanliness challenges at the Pier due to large solid waste quantities and shared usage of bins and bin enclosures.

Project Results

The City transitioned to a volume-based residential rate structure and automated collection. Residential green waste collection was also added. Processing of all commercial waste was included, enhancing diversion and assisting the City’s businesses to meet AB 341 mandatory recycling requirements. Vehicle size was limited for collection in challenging areas, and the hauler is assisting in the development of new enclosures at the Pier to enhance Pier cleanliness. In addition, the City obtained a minimum guaranteed diversion rate of 50% for hauler-collected waste.