Memphis ends solid waste contract with Inland
will scrap a garbage collection contract with Inland Waste following months of outrage from thousands of citizens whose trash sat neglected at curbs for weeks.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday that he had invoked a clause to end the city’s contract with Inland within 30 days. City officials had previously confirmed their plans to rebid the contract ahead of its expiration next year.
The city will announce next steps to “increase the level of services we’re providing citizens,” Strickland said in a statement.
“The transition between service providers may create some hiccups; I ask you for your patience as we work together for the long-term solution we all want,” Strickland stated.
Inland’s agreement is to collect garbage and recycling from carts within seven days of the collection date, and curbside trash within 21 days. Inland serves about a fifth of the city’s 174,000 solid waste customers — about 35,000 homes on the city’s eastern side, including the Cordova and Hickory Hill areas.
The contractor, a subsidiary of Sarasota, Fla.-based Bobcat North America, fell behind on garbage cart and curbside trash collections in April and has had trouble keeping up since then. At the
time, officials blamed the collection delays on an employee shortage at a time when summer yard waste was piling up. Waste Pro picked up the slack.
“Though the contract runs through next June, the level of service that we are delivering to our citizens through Inland remains unacceptable,” Strickland said in the statement.
In a similar story, Germantown withheld $1.3 million from Inland due to service complaints in 2016, and eventually replaced Inland with Waste Pro.
Inland most recently won the contract in 2014 with a low bid of $4.3 million annually, beating out proposals from Canada-based Waste Connections ($5.1 million); New Orleans-based Metro Service Group ($5.7 million); Republic Services of Phoenix ($6.6 million); and Longwood, Fla.-based Waste Pro ($9.3 million). Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercial appeal.com or on Twitter at @ryanpoe.