A company that's among those bidding to ship 100,000 tons of O'ahu's waste to the Mainland claims the process has been politicized and that the low bidder is pressuring the city into accepting their offer.

David Ross, president of Fairground, Wash.-based Simcoe Environmental Inc., accused the low bidder, Hawaiian Waste Systems, of applying "political and public" pressure on the city. He did not provide any specifics.

Ross also said it is impossible to provide the necessary service for the low bid price of $99 a ton.

Simcoe Environmental bid $184.47 per ton to ship the trash, while another company, Off-Island Transfer, bid $204.21 per ton for the work.

Simcoe and Off-Island filed separate complaints with the city office of Budget and Fiscal Services and by law the bid review process cannot be completed until the protests are addressed.

Jim Hodge, president of Hawaiian Waste Systems, dismissed the protests, saying the only thing the law allows is a protest of the entire process, not individual bids.

"We are very, very comfortable with our proposal and our price and we suspect the city will be as well," said Hodge. "Our bid is our bid and that's our business. It was quite surprising to me that a $204 bid was viable and the city would export waste for $200 a ton."

Ross said he can't see how the work can be done for as little as $99 per ton.

"Other companies have chosen to be out front and try to push the city to a resolution. That was never our intention. This isn't something we decided to jump in on. I can't speak to why they (Hawaiian Waste Systems) were so low (with their bid). I don't know if the intent was to negotiate afterward, I have no idea," said Ross. "I do know the cost structures extremely well. The equipment and design strategies were mine personally and others followed suit. I have a very good understanding of the cost structures."

Department officials declined to comment about the specifics of the protests, which could threaten the city's stated goal of starting the project by July 1, 2009.

"The city continues to evaluate the two protests, which both challenge the bid of Hawaiian Waste Systems, and a statutorily mandated stay is in effect," said Eric S. Takamura, director of the city Department of Environmental Services.

The three-year contract, with an option for two additional years, requires the winning bidder to ship 2,050 tons of trash per week and up to 100,000 tons a year to a Mainland landfill.

It costs less than $30 per ton to dump municipal solid waste into the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill.

The amount that would be shipped is less than 6 percent of the total 1.76 million tons of solid waste O'ahu generates annually, but proponents say it's one of several alternatives that will slow the closure of the island's main landfill and allow for the expansion of waste-to-energy technology.