Commissioner wants new trash collection oversight

By Curt Yeomans

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    GWINNETT COUNTY, Georgia (Gwinnett Daily Post) — Gwinnett County Commissioner Kirkland Carden is pushing to create new oversight for trash collection companies that operate in unincorporated parts of the county in light of numerous complaints he said commissioners have been receiving about solid waste haulers.

Under a proposal that Carden intends to pitch to his colleagues on the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners, a new board would be created within county government. Members would be appointed to oversee solid waste haulers and handle complaints residents file against the providers over service.

Carden said commissioners receive complaints ranging from trash not being picked up to trash trucks dripping fluids on neighborhood streets as well as companies retaliating against customers who lodge complaints against them.

One of the county’s solid waste haulers, Advanced Disposal, was recently acquired by Waste Management. Since then, residents have been going on websites such as Nextdoor to express their frustration with waste collection issues, such as problems with yard debris pickup and long waits to get Waste Management officials on the phone to lodge complaints.

Meanwhile, Gwinnett Solicitor Brian Whiteside held a meeting with officials from another of Gwinnett’s solid waste haulers, Waste Pro, last month to hear residents complaints about trash pickup issues.

One issue Carden said county leaders have to deal with is that county commissioners, in 2020, approved 10-year contracts with solid waste haulers.

There are five trash haulers who have contracts to handle different regions of Gwinnett, according to the county’s website. Waste Management handles trash pickup in northwest Gwinnett while Republic Services, Inc. handles eastern Gwinnett; Sanitation Solutions Inc. handles northern Gwinnett; Southern Sanitation Inc. handles southern Gwinnett and Waste Pro of Georgia Inc. handles southwest Gwinnett.

Those county contracts do not affect Gwinnett cities that have their own separate contracts for trash pickup or operate their own sanitation departments.

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