Catasauqua Borough’s existing refuse contract with J.P. Mascaro & Sons was scheduled to expire July 31, and council put out a request for bids earlier in the month. There allegedly were complaints among other waste haulers that they were not given time to review the bid parameters or prepare a proper bid.

The borough received only one bid - from J.P. Mascaro. The borough was happy with the contract, and it met all the criteria established.

The cost to each homeowner will rise $20 from the present $306 rate and will increase $20 each year for the five-year life of the contract.

Samuel Augustine, with Mascaro, answered questions. He said the price increase was driven by the decline in a profitable return from recyclables.

“Recycling is up in the amount we collect, but the return we get from recyclables is way down. We used to get $210 a ton of cardboard; now, we are around $50,” he said.

In addition, Augustine lamented higher costs for labor and vehicles.

Mascaro has a state-of-the-art single-stream recycling facility at its main landfill. Single-stream recycling allows recyclables to be mixed in one pickup. The machinery at the landfill sorts and bundles the finished product.

Augustine mentioned the company is experimenting with machinery to deal with supermarket shopping bags. The flimsy bags get caught in recycling machinery when they are mixed with the broad range of recyclables. The new machinery might reduce the problem, and it is on a two-year trial.

Catasauqua is not part of the plastic bag recycling experiment. Plastic bags are best returned to the supermarket, which has the facility to recycle them.

The basics of the contract remain the same. There are two pickups per week for trash.

Yard waste and grass clippings should not be in the trash. They can be taken to First Regional Compost Authority on Weaversville Road. Mascaro does not refuse yard waste in trash; it is too time consuming to sort through the bins. Trash haulers rely on customers to respect the process.

Bulk items will continue to be picked up curbside. A new requirement is to have mattresses wrapped in plastic. Incidents regarding bedbugs spawned the precaution. The bugs cling to clothes worn by tradesmen and can spread inadvertently.

Another caution is pizza boxes. There is a liner in the box to absorb grease. The grease will contaminate a batch of recyclables, so pizza boxes are best disposed of in the regular trash.

Mascaro is a subsidiary of Solid Waste Services Inc.