City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: August 11, 2026
Agenda Item: 4.D
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Christopher Dishlip, Director of Public Works, Resource Recovery & Recycling Division
Subject: Authorization to Issue a Purchase Order to Wastequip Manufacturing Company LLC for Metal Bins for Recycling, Organics, and Landfill Trash Materials
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines;
2. Authorize the Procurement Manager to issue a purchase order with Wastequip Manufacturing Company LLC for metal bin containers for recycling, organics, and landfill trash materials for the Public Works Department. This recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to the City’s Procurement Policy and is for a total amount not to exceed $1,437,645, with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval; and
3. Authorize budget amendment as outlined in the Financial Impacts and Budget Actions section of this report (requires 5 votes).
Summary
The Resource Recovery and Recycling Division (RRR) provides heavier, slimmerprofiled metal bins for certain residential and commercial locations where the use of regular plastic bins is impractical or infeasible. To ensure reliable, uninterrupted waste service for the City of Santa Monica customers, staff recommends authorization for the Procurement Manager to issue a purchase order to Wastequip Manufacturing Company LLC (Wastequip) for an initial term through May 19, 2029, with three one-year renewal terms. This was approved as an exception to the competitive bidding process by the Procurement Manager on ECB #422, per the City’s Procurement Policy as it will utilize a 2 of 4
cooperative agreement with Wastequip that was the result of a competitive solicitation process issued by Sourcewell, a governmental cooperative agency.
Discussion
The Resource Recovery and Recycling Division (RRR) provides metal bin containers for the collection of recycling, organics, and landfill trash materials for residential and commercial Santa Monica customers with locations that have tight refuse container storage spaces. In these cases, while slimmer plastic bins may be available, plastic bins are made from a single mold and cannot be customized. Metal bins are manufactured by welding metal pieces and can be customized with bottom channels, side channels, locking bars, and wraparound plates. This makes metal bin containers of various sizes an optimal choice when a location has an irregular or smaller-than standard container storage space. This flexibility allows RRR to better meet the needs of solid waste customers with unique space requirements or other logistical, operational, and space constraints.
In an effort to provide reliable and efficient services, staff recommends the use of a competitively bid cooperative contract that is accessible to public agencies and meets the requirements of the City’s exception to the competitive bid process. Using the Sourcewell cooperative agreement would eliminate the need to go through a lengthy procurement process and allow staff to procure customized metal bin containers, while supporting the City Realignment Plan’s strategic objective of achieving safe neighborhoods and clean streets.
Exception to Competitive Bidding
Staff recommends Wastequip to furnish and deliver metal bin containers for recycling, organics, and landfill trash materials per the Procurement Manager approved ECB #422 as an exception to the competitive bidding per the City’s Procurement Policy. c. Competitive procedures were followed by a governmental agency, federal, state, county, city, joint powers agency, special district, or cooperative purchasing agency and the goods or services are supplied to the City at the same or better price.
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Environmental Review
The procurement for the purchase of metal bins is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines because it can be seen with certainty that the activity has no potential to cause a significant effect on the environment. The purchase of bins is covered by the common sense exemption which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The purchase of metal bins would not result in any adverse physical environmental effects as it would ensure existing waste management services are continued. Therefore, the purchase order is exempt from CEQA and no further environmental review under CEQA is required.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Approval of the recommended actions requires the following budget amendment:
FY 2026-27 Budget Amendment
Appropriate Funds
Account Number Amount
54500002.529560 $79,617
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the Resource Recovery and Recycling Fund to award a purchase order with Wastequip for the purchase of metal bin containers for recycling, organics, and landfill trash materials.
Purchase Order Request
FY 2026-27
Request Amount
Future Years
Amount Account # Total ContractAmount
$150,383 $0.00 C5404540.689000 $150,383
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Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Patty Manalo, Administrative Analyst
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Oaks Initiative Form FY 2026-27 Wastequip
B. Levine Act Disclosure Form 2026 Wastequip
$79,617 $1,207,645 54500002.529560 $1,287,262
$230,000 $1,207,645 Total $1,437,645