Frisco residents will have a new trash and recycling collection contractor beginning Aug. 1.

The Frisco City Council decided at its Feb. 4 meeting to switch from Community Waste Disposal, which has served the city since 2004, to Progressive Waste Solutions. City staff members say the move will save Frisco more than $3.3 million throughout the next seven years.

The Progressive Waste Solutions seven year contract is worth an estimated $46.4 million, with an option for an additional three-year renewal.

Switching providers means 80,000 carts—two per home, will be replaced. The carts will remain the same size.

Deputy City Manager Henry Hill said while changing carts will be a logistical challenge, both the city of Frisco and Progressive Waste Solutions have dealt with such a change before. He said he expects no significant disruption of service.

PWS representatives and city officials said they expect the trash schedule and routes to stay the same.

City programs such as "Chuck Your Junk" days will continue, as they were included in the bidding process.

Hill said services and experience offered by CWD and PWS were equivalent, and made it clear the city has had no issue with the job CWD has performed.

"In this case it really did come down to price," Hill said. "We believe in the market process. We believe that the competition will result in better service."

During the first round of the bidding process, Hill said PWS was the least expensive bid. CWD's original bid was higher than what the city is currently paying the company. In the final bidding round, CWD lowered its bid to the existing contract price, but PWS was still lower, Hill said.

Council members expressed their thanks to CWD's service in Frisco, and made it clear the decision came down to following the city's bidding process.

Councilman Jeff Cheney said getting to know CWD personnel throughout the years made the decision difficult, and his sentiment was echoed by other council members.

"It's hard sometimes to separate the personal from the business, but that's what we're elected to do," Cheney said. "We have to make the best decisions for 135,000 people."

A representative for CWD spoke to the council, asking them to amend the bidding process and delay making a decision. Council members chose to follow the recommendation of city staff and unanimously approved the new contract with Progressive Waste Solutions.

"This is the kind of hard decision we have to make," Councilman Scott Johnson said. "If we allowed a group to come back and re-bid, I don't believe in the long term we would get better contracts."