The Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy has awarded consulting firm Leidos up to $25,000 for short-term help with the city's green waste program.
"What we're doing is asking them to come up with a short-term solution to stop the redundancy of the double hauling, and to try to cut down on the cost of — recoup savings of the approximately $200,000 a month that we're paying right now," City Councilor David Patrick said before the TARE board voted on the matter Tuesday.
Chairman Richard Sullivan said it's worth it to pay Leidos now in order to save money in the long run.
"I'm in conjunction with that," Sullivan told members of the board. "If it's the short-term, immediate cutting of costs and duplications of effort, then I want to move forward."
NeWSolutions, the company contracted to haul Tulsa residents' garbage, has picked up a significant amount of green waste and taken it to the incinerator rather than the city's mulching plant. Residents may put green waste in their trash carts.
NeWSolutions isn't yet receiving additional compensation for the additional work.
Leidos could have a plan for the TARE board by early February. The longest the board wants to operate on that green waste plan is 12 months.
The city council's Trash Operations Task Force is working on a long-term solution for the green waste program.
