As Trash Piles In St. Paul, City Fines Waste Management Over $50K

ST. PAUL, MN — The city of St. Paul says it has fined Waste Management more than $50,000 as a penalty for missing garbage pickups for residents. However, the trash problems continue to pile.

Since November, Waste Management "has failed to timely collect trash and yard waste from Saint Paul residents, causing unsanitary and unacceptable conditions," St. Paul city attorney Lyndsey Olson wrote in a June 10 letter.

"Since then, WM’s service failures have not resolved, and conditions have worsened."

According to Olson, the problems include:

Hundreds of instances of missed collections and entire missed routes, impacting thousands of residents

Hundreds of direct customer complaints to the City, including some customers that have experienced weeks-long delays and multiple missed collections

WM non-responses and unsatisfactory responses to customer complaints and City inquiries

Wait times on WM customer service lines well in excess of the Contract’s 5- minute requirement, and often extending more than 40 minutes

Many instances of incorrect or misleading information provided to Saint Paul customers by WM staff in e-mails, phone calls, and media communications.

Olson warned that the city "is considering every remedy available" under the contract as the problem grows.

In the first 10 days of June alone, there have been 2,800 reports of missed trash pickups, according to Axios.

Waste Management has acknowledged the problems and says it's working to improve service.

"We agree that the residents of St. Paul deserve better service and are currently working with other members of the hauler consortium to resolve service issues as quickly as possible," a spokesperson for Waste Management told the Star Tribune.

Background on St. Paul trash

In 2018, St. Paul lawmakers passed Ordinance 18-39, which required there to be only one designated residential garbage hauler for each neighborhood. St. Paul hired Advanced Disposal, Aspen Waste Systems, Gene's Disposal Service, Highland Sanitation, Republic Services and Waste Management to service different parts of the city.

Together, the six waste companies make up the city's trash "consortium" that manages organized trash pickup in the city.

Before the new system, each resident had to find and hire their own trash hauler. Many residents preferred this method, and the rollout of St. Paul's organized trash program has been anything but smooth.