Waste Management representatives Mike Mitchell (seated) and Johannes Kohn (standing) took questions from the Shelby County Commission at the Oct. 24 meeting. Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle
Two Waste Management representatives were in attendance at the Oct. 24 Shelby County Commission meeting to discuss issues that have taken place since the company took over garbage collection on Oct. 1.
County Manager Chad Scroggins said the new contract was a hot topic at the previous commission meeting. After Republic Services notified the commission in March that they would not be renewing their contract, Waste Management won the low bid, although the recycling component was removed due to an increase in the expense.
“At times when you have over 20,000 customers, startups do not go perfectly,” Scroggins said. “These two gentlemen have told us one thing and they actually followed through with it. We appreciate that they are here to talk to [the commission] a little bit further.
Johannes Kohn, Director of Collections Ops for Waste Management, said that significant progress had been made in the last seven days to ensure that all residents' garbage is getting picked up, with seven to nine recovery trucks running daily.
“We are excited to have this contract,” Kohn said. “We know it didn’t kick off the way we intended it to. With all the plans and goals, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Unfortunately, it didn't go the way we intended it to go, but we are back on track.”
He added that in rural parts of the county, the GPS just doesn’t work the way they had anticipated when addresses were put into the system, which has been part of the challenge. Some pick up spots where it lists one can, there have been up to 50 cans. Drivers are also limited to 60 hour work weeks, with no more than 14 hours per day with a 10 hour reset.
“You rely on technology sometimes and it shoots one back at you that you weren’t prepared for,” he said.
Oct. 24 began Waste Management’s fourth week of service in the county, and daily routes had been increased from seven to 11. Kohn said that they are making significant progress week over week and thanked the county staff for their assistance and for fielding calls.
“We’re making improvements week over week, but we’ll get there,” Kohn said. “I’m sure in the next couple of weeks, we will be having a much different conversation.”
Scroggins said that if there are any customers whose trash has not been picked up, the county needs to know about it. The public can call 205-669-3737 and county employees will route the information back to Waste Management.
Waste Management is also working to pick up customers recycling carts, and trying to decipher which cans are for recyclables, as they are not all marked well. If customers could label them ‘recycle’ and leave them at their curb, it would assist in that process.
Kohn shared with the commission that in the next five to seven years, 30% of the workforce in the garbage collection will be retiring which will have a tremendous impact on the industry. Waste Management is working to get new drivers and is partnering with some of the universities in the state that have driver schools to recruit more drivers.
Waste Management has also been faced with an equipment shortage. Kohn said the company had ordered 2,000 new trucks in 2022 for replacements across the enterprise, and had gotten less than 80 for the market area.
“For this contract alone, we are supposed to get nine brand new automated side load trucks, but there is still no ETA on when they will show up,” Kohn said. “We’re renting trucks and pulling trucks from other areas where we can. These nine trucks are supposed to show up between now and the end of the year when they were supposed to be here in July or August. Regardless, we’re still waiting on them and they can't come soon enough.”
Councilman Kevin Morris asked why the recycling component was taken out of the bidding process. Kohn said that several years ago, many recycling products were shipped overseas to China. In recent years, China hit a hard stop and shut everything off and put the recycling market in a tailspin, he said.
“There’s not a whole lot of avenues in Alabama itself for recycling where products come through the line to go to manufacturers to get turned into something else,” Kohn said. “The market in general is a tough market to be in. We have to continue educating the public on what can and can’t be recycled. We see Alabama as a forward opportunity in the future to make an investment here from a recycling standpoint. It's just a matter of getting everyone on board.”
Morris told Kohn and Mike Mitchell, public sector representative, that he appreciates all they have done. He said his district covers the most rural areas, so he has been pretty in tune with this issue every day.
“If someone doesn’t have trash picked up by now, they’ve not notified the right people,” Morris said. “Social media is not the direct route to go. I want to thank our whole environmental staff. This could have been a situation for our staff to say it’s not their issue, but we're a partnership [with Waste Management] and we’ve got to make sure we both react and both respond quickly to minimize the risk from a reputation standpoint. We’ve made a big turn and appreciate all your efforts and hope our residents appreciate all your efforts going into getting it right.”
