Waste Management Makes Progress in Fort Worth

According to published news reports, in an attempt to address the city’s concerns, Waste Management has brought in 15 route auditors to accompany crews along their routes; installed satellite tracking systems in all its trucks to ensure proper coverage of routes and to record problem areas; and taken over the subcontractor Resource Waste Services’s role in collecting yard waste.

“We’re definitely encouraged by the response from Waste Management,” Dot Kent of the city’s Environmental Management Department says. Kent says that Waste Management updated City Council on its efforts in a meeting July 29. “It’s clear that they are doing what’s needed.”

Kent says that the city’s records for missed collections show improvement. “For the week of 7/21, the missed garbage calls were down from 1,142 to 655. Recycling misses were down from 535 to 397 for the same week. Yard trimming misses were down from 337 to 115. That’s the lowest we’ve seen since the start of the program,” she says of the yard waste collections in particular. She attributes the improvement to Waste Management taking over collection duties from Resource Waste Services.

Kent acknowledges that the garbage misses are not all true misses, however. “As you can imagine, going to a true-once-a-week collection we do have some residents who are trying to get around the system.” For example, Kent says some residents who have more trash than the 64-gallon carts can accommodate will wait until Waste Management empties their carts, add their remaining trash and then call to report a missed pick up. “There are challenges on both sides,” she says, “and, certainly, Waste Management is not to blame for all of these.”

Despite the collection problems, residents have not soured on the new recycling program, which began March 31.

The Environmental Management Department’s Assistant Director Kim Mote says that the participation rate for recycling is still very high. He attributes the interest in the variable rate structure, commonly referred to as “pay as you throw,” which allows residents to select the size of their garbage cart, and the ease of single-stream collection.

Kent reports that the city’s recycling rate is currently at 17 percent, which is an 11 percent increase from recycling rate prior to the start of the program. 

The Environmental Management Department expects to further update Council on the situation at a pre-Council meeting Aug. 7.