Despite trash service complaints, Hollywood will keep WastePro as vendor for now

Hollywood residents will keep WastePro as their trash vendor for now after the city manager said the company has committed to enhancing its services after a series of meetings.

“There has been a genuine not only commitment, but a keeping of that commitment to bring additional resources here, especially with the drivers and some of the field crews,” Hollywood City Manager George Keller said at Tuesday’s City Commission meeting. “The service levels have gotten better over the last couple of weeks. Complaint levels have gone down.”

Keller thanked WastePro for the response but said the city will continue monitoring for increased permanent hires and performance improvement.

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

In late August, the city had given WastePro an ultimatum, telling the company to fix its service issues or Hollywood would end the contract.

This year through mid-September, the city received more than 1,000 complaints about trash services, from missing waste bins to garbage piling up in the streets. More than 600 of those complaints were regarding missed trash pickups.

WastePro has attributed the service issues to staffing shortages, particularly of drivers. As of Thursday morning, there were more than 100 Florida job openings listed on its website.

“We are in full commitment mode. There are more people here now than we’ve had, not only on a temporary basis, but on a permanent basis,” Ken Rivera, a WastePro representative, said at the meeting.

Rivera said the company has added about 30 full-time employees, with the bulk of them being in Hollywood.

“It’s going to take some training, because they’re not used to working on the streets. They’re going to be in the alleys, but the commitment is there. We have an overabundance of vehicles, trucks, and men and women. So we’re ready, we’re committed.”