Complaints About Trash Service Mount In Bloomfield

Garbage is rotting all over town, and it’s Future Sanitation’s fault.

That’s what a township official had to say about the declining performance of the contractor’s garbage collection on the streets of Bloomfield.

Anthony Nesto, Bloomfield Director of Public Works and Parks, told Patch that there has been a “noticeable drop in service” over the past 45 days, and that residents haven’t been shy about making their dissatisfaction known.

Two months ago, the township was getting two or three complaints per day about garbage service, Nesto said. But over the past month and a half, that total has risen to 10 or 15 complaints per day.

Most of the complaints involve missed pickups, Nesto said.

“Sometimes they’re skipping whole streets,” he told Patch. “Sometimes they’ve do six houses, skip a house, and then do six more houses.”

But either way, it adds up to a result that Bloomfield residents aren’t willing to put up with, Nesto emphasized.

Garbage sitting in the 85-degree summer sun.

According to Nesto, the township has been contracting with Future Sanitation for a few years and hasn’t experienced any serious issues until a few months ago, when the company lost their operations manager and dispatcher.

“We knew that there could be a bit of a transition period, but not 45 days,” Nesto said.

The situation really came to a head after the July 4th weekend, as residents had already missed a pickup due to the holiday, he added.

“We’re not used to this,” Nesto told Patch. “I’m not happy with it. It’s not the way that things roll around here. And unfortunately, it’s a black eye for my department or the engineering department, even though it’s an outside vendor.”

• See related article: Bloomfield DPW Apologizes For ‘Drop Off’ In Garbage Service

HAVING A SIT-DOWN

On Friday, township officials met with Future Sanitation to discuss residents’ complaints about declining service in Bloomfield.

“I told them that they were on double secret probation,” emphasized Nesto. “They understood what we want. They know that we’re going to have zero tolerance on this.”

Future Sanitation has agreed to send an extra supervisor on the Bloomfield routes to watch the trucks and workers, and has to call a designated town official every day before leaving the municipality by their 6 p.m. deadline, Nesto said.

“We feel that’s fair enough for now,” he told Patch.

And if that doesn’t work?

“It becomes legal,” Nesto said. “It becomes their attorney versus ours. But we’re hoping it doesn’t come to that point.”