Franchise agreement faces questions in Las Vegas

Haulers of construction and demolition (C&D) materials in and around Las Vegas say the structure of a 20-year franchise agreement has left them in a poor position to compete with Republic Services Inc., the landfill owner holding that franchise.

An online article by the Las Vegas Review-Journal quotes several C&D haulers who have begun to haul their materials some 100 miles away in order to avoid paying tip fees at the franchised landfill.

The 20-year agreement is between Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, and the Apex Landfill, which is owned by Phoenix-based Republic Services Inc.

A source of ill will within the franchise agreement has been an amendment in the agreement that “allows Republic Services to compete with companies in the private C&D market while simultaneously allowing Republic Services to set its own rates for competitors at its Apex landfill,” according to the newspaper.

The Apex Landfill is the only in Clark County, and the franchise agreement holds that Republic Services has the “sole right to set and collect tipping fees” there. According to the Review-Journal, “Republic Services has an internal rate that it charges itself for disposing of waste into the landfill, but Clark County doesn’t know what that rate is. The posted gate rate for other companies is $37.54 per ton.”

C&D haulers quoted in the article say they have been instead sending trucks on a 70-mile-or-more drive to the Western Elite Landfill in Lincoln County, Nevada, but they say it is a business model that can be difficult to sustain.

A Clark County employee quoted in the article expressed concern about the loss of materials volume to the Western Elite Landfill, noting that Clark County receives a fixed percentage of the Apex Landfill tipping fees.