Hollywood residents say their garbage is piling up. Here’s what the city’s doing about it

The complaints to Hollywood city officials regarding trash pickup read as long as a CVS receipt.

One resident complained through the Hollywood Connect app that the city’s service provider, WastePro, doesn’t pick up her trash on Mondays and Thursdays when designated.

Another said that someone from WastePro left a note saying the yard debris she’d left out was “too much” and didn’t pick it up.

Another complained the company hadn’t been picking up recycling.

“There have been ups and downs in terms of quality of service over the years. There were too many low points, and it’s come to a head now,” Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy told the Miami Herald.

From January to mid-September, the city received more than 1,000 trash-related complaints, ranging from missing bins to garbage overflowing in the streets. The bulk of the complaints obtained by the Herald through a public records request — more than 600 — pertain to missed trash pickup.

Hollywood Lakes resident Frank Morrison said there was a period last month where bulk trash had been sitting on the corner of the street where he lives for about a month before it was picked up.

“At times, they’re very responsive but lately they’ve been terrible,” Morrison said of WastePro, adding that he’d been in contact with the city about the issue. “However, it took them probably a month to pick up a pile that was on my street. It was a huge pile just left out there. I said, after a while, the rats will find it. It’s gonna attract rats.”

The city has been holding weekly meetings with WastePro to address the complaints, which the company has attributed to staffing shortages, particularly of drivers. On its website, there are more than 100 job openings posted in Florida.

“Our drivers, helpers, mechanics, and staff have been working tirelessly performing collection services to the city. Regional and local leadership have and continue to be in regular, daily communication with city staff regarding improvements to services,” Tracy Meehan, corporate communications director for WastePro, said in an email to the Herald.

Meehan added that the company is in the process of recruiting new garbage truck drivers.

“We are focused on continued efforts to bolster driver ranks. Drivers cannot be hired one day and drive a route the next; they must undergo weeks of training,” she said. “WastePro remains committed to the City and wishes to continue to improve its service levels so that they are what city residents deserve.”

The issue came up during a recent candidate forum held by the civic organization Committee of 100 of Hollywood , with most candidates saying they weren’t in favor of the way the service had been privatized. In 2019, the then-City Council approved a contract with WastePro for $9.4 million for 10 years. In light of its recent issues, Levy said fines have been levied against the company in the “hundreds of thousands” of dollars.

“All efforts are being made by the city to address complaints and enhance quality control particularly for recycling and monthly bulk waste collections,” Hollywood City Manager George Keller said in a statement in late August . “Waste Pro USA has been placed on notice that service levels must significantly improve by the end of September, or the company may face termination of its contract.”

But canceling the contract and getting another service provider might not be an easy task.

“That’s not a simple matter,” Levy said. “We would have to pre-line up a waste hauling service that would be able to step in and handle the city’s work.”

“I would say ideally, WastePro is able to make good on its commitment to very quickly resolve service use so we don’t have to go through termination and transfer of service to a new hauler,” the mayor continued.

Levy also said he didn’t see the city moving sanitation services back in-house any time soon because of the “significant capital costs of purchasing a whole fleet of trucks and having to hire a full set of sanitation personnel.”

“I’m not ruling it out in terms of a long-term choice that the city may have to make in the future,” he said, “but it’s not within our immediate plan to undertake that service in-house just yet.”

Levy said the city is expected to discuss the issue at Tuesday’s 1 p.m. City Commission meeting.

For residents, the sooner it’s addressed, the better. “We pay a lot of taxes, and I don’t feel like I’m getting adequate services,” Morrison said.