The Future For Fullerton’s Trash
Fullerton’s garbage collection may seem like a pedestrian subject to you and me, but it’s a lucrative franchise for guys in the business of picking up our “solid waste” and hauling it to the land fill, or to the nearest materials recycling facilities (MRF).
The history of garbage collection is pretty dull, but it’s informative. A local family-owned company, MG Disposal, had the contract for decades under “evergreen” terms, apparently.
They got the gig when Eisenhower was President, in 1955. MG was eventually bought out, successively by Taormina Industries and then Republic Services, a mammoth solid waste collection company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The latter took place around 2009 when a new agreement was created with the City. Still, the relationship lineage was still there. In essence the City has been doing business with related, successive entities for 70 years.
Anyhow, the existing contract was signed 16 years ago if you’re counting. There have been three amendments to the agreement, but the service itself hasn’t been put out to bid to see if anybody else can do it better, cheaper, more effectively, etc. It seems unlikely that Republic can be underbid, but why not see?
Government agencies have the unfortunate habit of extending contracts in the out years because putting things out to bid takes effort, and the incumbent contractor is familiar, comfortable, and has likely developed a symbiotic relationship with both government employees and their political overlords. And the one thing you don’t want to screw up is garbage collection. That’s ruined promising careers in municipal government and in politics.
What is the right amount of time to keep evergreen deal going? I don’t know. But 70 years seems like an awfully long time; even the past 16 seems like a long time if you feel like giving Republic a brand new start in 2009.
I think it’s about time to rattle this franchise cage and see who out there might be willing to respond to a bid solicitation. It may nor result in a change, but it’s just due diligence toward the people of Fullerton who pay for the service.
I agree with rattling the cage.
If the contract is put out to bid, and Republic is forced to win back Fullerton’s business, it helps keep all players honest.
Honesty is less of an issue than complacency. I agree. Time to rattle the cage.
MG had the deal all those years because they were joined at the hip to the dumb pols and the City staff.
Sidewalk thief Tony Florentine was married to the MG mob.
High time to look at alternative contractors. Change is hard for Fullerton.
It was time when they lowered how many bulk pickups the residents were allowed a few years ago.
I remember when it was well-run. Turn it back over to the mob.
How about tree-trimming services?
Good question.
Yes, put it out to bid. They promised us recycling would never mean an increase in fees. Haha.
And remember, we have the new composting law coming up. Our kitchens will be filled with useless recycling bins. And cockroaches. Lots of cockroaches.
It’s Cali, baby!
The MG Disposal site in now one of those god-awful self storage place. At least the Chamber of Commerce can have mixer there with no flies.
MG/Republic has always been difficult to deal with, both in residential as well as commercial services (we have both). Their lack of competent customer service is frustrating. I’ve literally spent hours on the phone with them and had many e-mails with relatively high-level people trying to sort out unwarranted commercial charges. To be fair, the commercial problem was somewhat complicated due to the nature of shared commercial trash in a large commercial complex, but those complications were caused in part due to that long-standing relationship between MG/Republic and the City. The City was also involved but due to a shocking amount of turnover there it was hard to get anything done. My problem solving attempts literally took a couple years to resolve.
Most of the local trash haulers are, well, garbage when it comes to service.
Put it out to bid.
Waste hauling contracts don’t allow for early termination without the consent of both parties. And Republic isn’t going to exit the contract early when they millions of dollars of revenue left to collect. Republic is a massive corporation and treat these contracts and our communities like a natural resource to exploit. They are a truly shitty company.
How many years are left in the term? You’re gonna have to wait until its up before you can get new bids from legitimate companies.
Good question on the term. We’ll find out.
Mike Balliet
https://citygreenconsulting.com/about/
This guy?