Dive Brief:

• Detroit has awarded its five-year solid waste and recycling contract to two companies, Advanced Disposal and Rizzo Environmental Services, Inc.
• The contractors will divide the city's 247,000 customers in half, marked by east and west, then further into zones I-IV.
• The city estimates the haulers will cost around $23 to $25 million per year, which amounts to savings of about $6 million annually for Detroit.

Dive Insight:

Both companies will take care of regular trash collections, bulk trash removal and single-stream recycling, which had not been available to a majority of residents before. Detroit is planning to sell its fleet in order to pay for the clean-up of illegal dumpling in neighborhood areas and around schools. The city began considering privatization under the direction of its Emergency Manager, who acted quickly to collect bids, a move which was expected to save the city millions annually.