Memphis eyes fines for Inland as trash piles up
City of Memphis contractor Inland Waste Solutions could face fines this month after emptying garbage and recycling carts 10 days late for some residents in Cordova.
After receiving a large number of complaints, Mayor Jim Strickland issued an apology Monday for an “unacceptable backlog” that should be erased by the end of the day.
“On Sunday, I visited some of the homes in Cordova where this is taking place and spoke with the homeowners,” he said in a statement Monday. “I told them what I’ll tell you now: This is not the level of service that citizens should expect from City government, and I apologize for it. No excuses.”
Inland will bring in third-party subcontractors as it catches up on curbside trash over the next seven to 10 days, Public Works Director Robert Knecht said Monday. Cordova is home to 37,000 residences that account for about 20 percent of the city’s collections.
“Additional manpower and resources will be deployed to Inland-serviced areas for as much as 12 hours a day and through the weekend,” Strickland said in his statement. “This is all in an effort to restore services to normal.”
Inland’s agreement is to collect garbage and recycling from carts within seven days of the collection date, and curbside trash within 21 days.
Asked why Inland fell behind, Knecht replied, “We’re at the peak of spring cleaning right now.”
The city will evaluate whether Inland missed its deadlines at the end of the month, Knecht said. The city fined Inland $141,000 in July 2016 and threatened to end its contract after the company missed collection deadlines.
Since 2014, the city of Germantown has withheld more than $500,000 in payments to Inland to cover fines and the fees to bring in other contractors.
Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter at @ryanpoe.