New Canaan’s Conservation Commission heard an operational update on the town transfer station on Dec. 11, where staff reported a decline in municipal solid waste and outlined near-term plans for contracts and organics collection.

Tiger, who provided the transfer-station update, said the town is estimating about 6,500 tons of MSW for the year, down from a long-running estimate of roughly 7,000 tons. Recycling, he said, has remained steady at about 1,350 to 1,500 tons annually. “Our recycling is very, very flat,” he said, adding that the decline in MSW is driven by private-hauler behavior and customer choices.

Tiger told the commission the town currently pays $111 per ton to dispose of MSW and charges $115 per ton at the transfer station. He said that because local haulers incur front-loaded capital costs, the town is considering moving from a two-year contract to a five-year contract when current contracts expire this year to spread those costs and encourage competitive bids.

Commissioners pressed for more vendor transparency. One member asked where loads ultimately go and how sustainable vendor operations are; Tiger said haulers route loads to different facilities (a burn plant in Bridgeport, landfills, and out-of-state facilities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York are all possible) and that the town can require haulers to disclose destinations and percentages during the RFP process. “We leave that up to the hauler,” Tiger said, but added the town will ask vendors in the RFP for the locations they plan to use.

On organics, Tiger said additional food-scrap toters were added to address overflowing containers and that Planet New Canaan is helping offset program costs. He described ongoing steps to test the market by reissuing contracts and to encourage residents’ participation through outreach; commissioners discussed the possibility of public communications showing recycling progress to encourage behavior change.

The commission also discussed operational safety and swap-shop hours. Tiger said Friday hours are adjusted for winter so staff working near the adjacent salt shed are not put at risk by heavy equipment movements.

Next steps: staff said they will prepare the RFP materials and vendor lists for the commission to review and will return with more detail on proposed contract length and reporting requirements for disposal destinations.