TRASH COMPANY MUM ON REFUNDS

Chula Vista, county also calculating damages caused by work stoppage

Republic Services has yet to say whether it will refund tens of thousands of customers in Chula Vista and other parts of San Diego County affected by its monthlong work stoppage.

Service interruption began in mid-December after more than 250 sanitation workers went on strike when contract negotiations stalled, leaving residents and businesses scrambling to dispose of their trash. Members of Teamsters Local 542 accepted their employer’s latest offer Monday and returned to work Tuesday.

Since then, the cities of Chula Vista, San Diego and the county have asked Republic Services to provide an updated plan for getting rid of the backlog of trash and resuming normal operations. Part of the company’s strategy is to use its out-of-area crews to cover areas where excessive material exists, while its local workers focus on resuming regularly scheduled services. It is also evaluating setting up drop-off containers should jurisdictions need them.

Last week, the Chula Vista City Council declared a local emergency as trash piled up at apartment and condo complexes. City workers have picked up more than 100,000 pounds of garbage. They are expected to continue their clean-up efforts through the end of this week, even though the strike has ended, while Republic Services workers catch up.

Republic has not said whether it will refund customers.

Chula Vista council members repeatedly demanded Tuesday that the waste hauler credit customers for the duration of the work stoppage and asked Darrell Reno, the director of operations that oversees the company’s San Diego area and who said he was on the negotiating team, to share when the company planned to do so.

Reno indicated that refunding customers is more complicated than it seems.

“All customers were impacted differently. So, I’m going to have to really understand the data, see what products were picked up, see what kind of trash was collected,” he said, adding that the current priority “is getting the trash off the ground.”

In an emailed response Thursday, Republic Services said, “We understand there were different circumstances and different levels of service during the strike. We are assessing and will be working with our customers on a case-by-case basis.”

Under its franchise with the city of San Diego, the city is not directly