City to dump trash hauler

The City of Port Washington is terminating its contract with Waste Management for garbage and recycling collection after months of complaints from residents whose trash hasn’t been picked up on schedule.

City Administrator Tony Brown said the city has worked with Waste Management to try and resolve the issues to no avail.

“We had hoped things would improve, but they haven’t,” he said, leaving the city with little choice but to end its contract and find a new waste hauler.

“In the end, it’s our responsibility to make sure people’s refuse and recycling get collected.”

Brown said he is in talks with another waste collection firm and hopes to have a contract and transition plan ready for approval in the next week or so.

“They’re talking to Waste Management about the transition,” he said, adding that the transition to the new firm could be completed by early October, “if not sooner.”

The change can’t come soon enough for residents whose refuse isn’t being collected.

Last week, Waste Management failed to pick up garbage and recycling in four subdivisions, Judy Klumb, the Department of Public Works administrative assistant, said.

Some of those residents didn’t get their refuse picked up until Tuesday, she said.

“That’s five days in the hot sun,” Klumb said.

While the 30 calls she received about Friday’s collection is probably the most she’s gotten on any particular day, Klumb said, it’s not unusual to get 10 calls from residents about collection being missed. 

“It just frustrates me that I can’t get the garbage picked up on a timely basis,” she said.  

It’s not just collection that’s an issue, Klumb said, noting she’s had several calls from people complaining that the company dropped their garbage and recycling carts so hard they cracked or broke the wheels. When Advanced Disposal held the city’s contract, Klumb noted, there were two regular drivers in the city who were quick to respond when someone’s collection was missed.

“I knew their names, had their cell phone numbers,” she said. “Everything ran smooth.” 

That hasn’t been the case with Waste Management, where she initially called and emailed the district manager when stops were missed but later was funneled to two different people who never got back to her.

“It would be helpful if they could give me updates or tell me what’s going on so I can let the residents know,” she said.

Brown said issues with garbage and recycling collection in the city began after Waste Management bought out Advanced Disposal, with whom the city was in the eighth year of a 10-year contract, on Oct. 31, 2020.  

Within a few months, he said, issues started to arise. The city contacted company officials who blamed the problems on old and faulty equipment and new personnel and said they had not received route maps for the city.

While service seemed to get better, that quickly changed, Brown said.

“It was one household missed here, one side of the block missed, both sides of the block missed, complete subdivisions missed,” he said. “There was never a consistent pattern.”

There were other issues as well, he said, including a truck that spilled hydraulic fluid onto several city streets. The company cleaned it up by washing the fluid into the sewers, prompting a response from the county’s emergency management department.

The city continued to have semi-weekly meetings with the company, but by mid-July officials had had enough and notified Waste Management that the city would be ending its contract, Brown said.

“We have certainly expressed to them that they’ve fallen far short of fulfilling their duties in the contract,” he said.

Port’s not the only city in this situation, Brown added, noting many communities throughout the region have experienced issues with the firm and are canceling their contracts.