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Thursday, December 13, 2007
“One plan, two potential concerns”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Steve Wood’s been in the garbage business 14 years.
He worked his way up at various companies, starting out as a “helper” - the person who hops off the back of a garbage truck, grabs the can or recycling bin, and tosses the waste into the bay - to a supervisor with United Waste Services-Robertson Sanitation of Winder.
“I loved it when I first got into it,” he told me. “And I haven’t lost my feelings towards it.”
We drove around in his company truck Wednesday, tailing a garbage truck that inched its way through a hilly subdivision in Buford. I’d hoped to be on that truck - the rear of it - trying to keep up with Joel Colon, the helper. Liability issues squashed the idea. I’d thought the experience would provide an excellent backdrop to write about trash, a topic of interest in the county these days.
On Tuesday, the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to regulate trash service. They OK’d a 10-year “solid waste management plan” that will grant exclusive territorial franchises to no more than eight garbage collection companies. Those companies would be selected through a bid process.
Nothing’s finalized.
The Georgia Department of Community Affairs and the Atlanta Regional Commission have to approve the plan; a private hauler has threatened to sue, citing an unlevel playing field for small trash collectors.
Currently, most Gwinnett residents can choose the haulers they want for garbage service, which averages around $25 a month. Or they can get rid of their own garbage. About 20,000 single-family households have no service; that may contribute to the litter we see strewn along roads.
When it comes to quality of life, I can see the greater good in the proposal. Two things, in particular, though, give me pause.
Like the potential for rate hikes.
Supposedly, the winning bidders can’t raise rates without county approval. We all know where there’s a will, though, there’s sure to be a way. The territorial franchises are basically monopolies. No competition. You pretty well do as you please. Somewhere right now, a garbage hauler is trying to figure out a way to sway a franchise his company’s way, then turn it into a renewable gravy train.
Then there’s the bid process.
I don’t mean to cast aspersions on the current commissioners or county brass. But so often when the words “bid,” “government,” and “contract” appear together, “illegal” or “impropriety” follow close behind. Bid-rigging. Implementation of the trash plan ripens the possibility, the temptation, for it.
I could be up in arms about losing the right to pick my own garbage collection service. But that would be a reach; I don’t even know the company name of my current hauler. And residents upset that different garbage haulers work their neighborhoods on different days need a hobby. Or two.
While riding with Wood during the Badie Tour on Wednesday, we saw the garbage can of only one competitor. All the rest were customers of United Waste Services-Robertson Sanitation. Colon, the helper, has cat-like speed. Has to. He’s only supposed to spend 12 seconds at each curb.
The company practices “right-hand routing,” so helpers don’t have to cross the street to retrieve garbage cans. Workers are supposed to wait until the truck stops before they step down. They aren’t supposed to put recycling bins and trash cans in front of mail boxes or driveways. (If that’s the case, my hauler definitely isn’t United Waste Services-Robertson Sanitation.)
“It looks easy,” Wood told me. “But any job looks easy till you starting getting into it.”
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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