Anaheim’s trash contractor says it will likely take three months for it to fix issues plaguing the company’s service, where missed garbage pickups throughout the city have recently risen.
Representatives from Republic Services, the nation’s second-largest waste disposal company, promised during this week’s City Council meeting to improve service in Anaheim, saying the company has already begun taking steps to tackle issues.
“It is my plan to have this totally resolved in the next three months,” said Gretchen Lowery, area vice president for Republic Services. “We do have a lot of challenges that we’re trying to address.”
Those challenges include a tough labor market for Republic Services for hiring mechanics and drivers and difficulty keeping enough trucks running, which has caused garbage to go uncollected. The recent heat wave in California and Tropical Storm Hilary didn’t help.
The waste company is hiring technicians and drivers and adding more trucks to its service in Anaheim.
Anaheim Director of Public Works Rudy Emami said Republic Services’ improvement plan began on July 7, and while there had been a recent decrease in customer complaints for missed pickups, they spiked again in the last two weeks.
“I’ll tell you, nobody is immune. My own trash got missed,” Emami said, adding that other cities are facing the same issues with Republic Services and other trash contractors.
Emami said the city has the option to notify Republic Services if Anaheim leaders want to end the contract within the next seven years and find a new provider.
“It’s a very good contract,” Emami said. “We would get a lot of interest in that.”
Another representative from Republic Services told the council that Anaheim is the largest contract the company has.
Councilmembers Carlos Leon and Stephen Faessel both said their trash wasn’t picked up recently. Faessel said he believes the company took on more than it could handle when it began contracting with Santa Ana.
“You got to get your act together,” Faessel said. “I think we’ve about had it.”
Source: Orange County Register
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