Waste Management Works To Address Issues Facing Tuscaloosa County Customers

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Tuscaloosa County Commission received updates on ongoing issues with the firm contracted to college garbage in the county, as Waste Management Inc. works to address problems with staffing, truck maintenance and customer service.

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Dwight Robinson has been Waste Management's interim director of operations for the state of Alabama for the last four weeks and was on hand Wednesday to speak to Commissioners and field questions.

"We have had some struggles, we’ve had some issues," he said. "I'm not here to give excuses. What I’d like to do is give solutions."

STAFFING

Adequate staffing has been a pervasive issue of late for Waste Management, especially in the wake of the economic downturn and impacts to the labor market due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The jobs are well-paying ones, as Patch has previously reported, but Robinson said his hope is to make salaries even more competitive.

"We’re also looking at wages for our drivers," he said. "I want to make sure not that we’re at median range, but we need to be in the upper range, with wage increases so we can recruit ... We are staffed. I want to say we’re under-staffed, but I use the synopsis of if you have a football team and you have 11 guys, then you’re staffed. But if anything goes wrong you’re going to struggle and that’s where we were."

To address staffing shortfalls in Tuscaloosa County, specifically, Robinson said Waste Management currently has four people training, including two people from Montgomery who are seasoned drivers and are transferring in, hopefully by the end of the month.

TRUCK OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE

Separately, issues with the trucks themselves were also discussed, as Robinson has already moved forward on plans to boost the local pool of collection vehicles.

"I redirected four new trucks for delivery and they are now here on the ground," he said. "Two are running and two will be up and running. We have a process we’ve got to go through so when they hit the road they can sustain."

Robinson then pointed out that 40-45% of the trucks that will be used for garbage collection in the county will be brand new.

Tuscaloosa County Probate Judge Rob Robertson, who chairs the Commission, inquired as the number of spare trucks on the ground ready to go in the event that one in service is put out of commission for whatever reason.

Robinson explained that Waste Management runs 10 regular routes in Tuscaloosa County and needs 14 trucks do so, so as to have reserves ready for service when needed.

"Currently we have 20 sitting on the lot," Robinson said. "But what I'm working on now, I’ve got five or six that are down. So we're working through dealers and we have help through our corporate office that we can lean on dealers, but we’re having some issues getting parts in. By the end of the month you will have a minimum 14 trucks to run 10 routes and you should have four spares sitting there."

COMMUNICATION & CUSTOMER SERVICE

It was communication and customer service, though, that ultimately dominated the conversation on Wednesday, with Commissioners speaking to the problems raised by their constituents.

District 3 Commissioner Mark Nelson and District 4's Reginald Murray were the most vocal, particularly with respect to the perceived lack of local knowledge when customers contact Waste Management's centralized call center.

"They are frustrated when they call in," Nelson said. "They get someone who doesn’t know what’s going on or someone who makes a commitment that you guys can’t follow through with, and I think we can all agree it's worse for you to tell me you’re going to come tomorrow to get it and then you not come. I’d rather you tell me it will be a while. That's one of the things that would help us, I think, if our citizens felt like the line of communication was open and clear and honest. We would probably not get calls, frankly."

Murray echoed these thoughts, saying when Tuscaloosa County residents call, they are talking to someone in another state and not someone who is familiar with Tuscaloosa County.

But dependability of services was also mentioned by the District 4 commissioner.

"My concern is that a lot of the areas in my district, they will pick up some garbage on a road and not complete that road, then they will also leave a complete road unattended and that’s been the frustration of customers in my area," he said. "The other thing is, when [customers] are told [Waste Management is] coming back, they don’t come back. Last week, I had people calling me on Thursday morning because their regular trash pickup day was Friday last week and they had nowhere to put their garbage in order to get it picked up."

Robinson insisted the myriads problems were being addressed and pledged to commissioners that they would be able to see a difference in the coming days and months, once the sweeping changes have been implemented and integrated into the way Waste Management operates in Tuscaloosa County.

“I don’t think [communication has] been done very well," Robinson said. "I think it’s up to the county to reach out to us, then we go through the excuse chain. I think we need to talk to you every day and week if we have an issue, letting you know ahead of time before you start getting phone calls."

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