Republic (Solid Waste) Services

January 5, 2023January 5, 2023

I know some of us would kind of like to throw Republic Services out with the weekly waste collection these days, but I’m not so sure they’d even pick up the bin…

I wanted to let you know, if you don’t already, that Republic is an outside contractor for the City, and we have a long-term contract with them that was signed prior to the pandemic at a very good rate that no one else in the County has right now. So we are with them for the foreseeable future, but that does not mean that the City is happy with their service or can’t do anything about it.

Here’s the latest from our City Clerk, Adam Geffert:

“As you likely know, there were significant delays in trash and recycling service over the past two weeks in certain areas of the City. The issues started when Republic decided to halt service on Thursday, December 22^nd and Friday, December 23^rd due to the extremely cold temperatures and blowing snow. They stated that it was not only for the safety of their drivers, but also because the hydraulic systems on their trucks don’t work properly in sub-zero temperatures. They told us that residents with Thursday and Friday pickups could put out as much trash as they wanted the following Thursday and Friday, and that everything would be collected.

“Unfortunately, they were not able to complete Wednesday’s route this past week until Thursday morning, which set them further behind. Thursday pickups were for the most part completed by Friday morning. We received assurances from Republic that Friday’s pickups would be completed by the end of the day Friday, but that a contingency route was also planned for Saturday in case anything did not get collected. Neither of those things happened, and as a result, a large portion of Ward 6 was missed. City staff attempted to contact Republic management multiple times by email and phone over the weekend but did not receive a response. On Monday, we were told that there were “mechanical issues” on Friday which prevented those routes from being completed. Republic finished most Friday collections [Mon]day, though there have been some reported misses this morning [Tuesday].

“I spoke to Tyler Riordan, Republic’s Municipal Sales Manager this morning, and he provided this information:

“We currently have 4 trucks in PV to get everything caught up, so routes should all be serviced on their regular service day the remainder of this week. We apologize for last Friday’s stops not being collected last week (Fri or Sat) & most importantly not communicating a prompt & accurate action-plan to get those stops serviced.”

“Tyler will be providing an update at the January 17^th Council meeting, and will explain why they’ve been struggling to complete their routes per the terms of our agreement. In our conversation this morning, I reiterated that communication is our #1 priority – – it’s completely unacceptable to fail to give us an update on service issues for multiple days. We are able to assess fines for service issues, and intend to do so this month. Needless to say, City staff is frustrated with their performance.”

As I’ve shared before, if you have any issues with your trash or recycling pickup or with customer service, please direct your questions and concerns to our City Clerk, Adam Geffert. He can resolve resident issues with Republic much faster than we can individually as residents calling their customer service line. I’ve heard how frustrating those calls to Republic can be.

You can reach Adam at cityclerk@pvkansas.com or 913-381-6464.