Priority Waste details issues with purchased GFL trucks

From Waterford to Rochester Hills to Dexter, we’ve heard your complaints about Priority Waste’s trash pickup issues ever since their takeover of GFL on July 1.

7 News Detroit has been digging into those concerns and has now learned, according to Priority Waste, that more than half of the trucks GFL gave to Priority were not in working order. Issues included human feces being left in the cabs of multiple trucks.

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One former GFL employee also told 7 News Detroit that in the weeks leading up to the sale, trucks that needed maintenance were not being fixed.

It’s a beautiful place to spend a Michigan summer but since late June, neighbors on a Dexter dirt road say their frustration — and trash — has been piling up.

“The bugs, the smell, the animals — it was a nightmare,” resident Cary Ketzner said.

For nearly two months, Ketzner says her trash pickup has been anything but reliable. The issues started just before her then-trash provider GFL was taken over by Priority Waste. On her rural dirt road, animals were having a field day with the overflowing trash.

“They strew it across the yard and across the road, and I'm looking out my window at my 83-year-old neighbor, who I know has had a hip replacement, bending over in a 55-mile-an-hour dirt road picking up a trash,” Ketzner said.

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The issues have been well known across Southeast Michigan since the July 1 takeover. Priority Waste says some of the issues are the result of having less trucks than expected. Of the more than 400 trucks they bought from GFL, about half of them were not in working order.

“We thought we had a functioning fleet of 410 trucks, but what we ended up with was about half of that,” said Matt Allen, Priority Waste director of public relations and government affairs. “Truck after truck after truck started coming into our delivery yard by tow truck — that was a big red flag."

Allen says the trucks they received were "significantly" different than they had been when they inspected them two months prior. Hydraulic lines were missing or broken, brake systems were not working, fluid lines were missing, axles were disabled and some of the trucks had even been defecated in.

“Some of the more belligerent acts, like human feces in the cabs, that’s just rouge employees doing stupid things," Allen said. “We're not shying away from it; we just didn't want to publicize it for obvious reasons. We're not here to pick fights; we're here to fix problems... I can't speak to the why people did what they did at GFL. At this point, it doesn't matter. We’re getting it fixed.”

Allen says the company is now spending millions to get the trucks fixed quickly and hopes to have all customers back on schedule by the end of next week.

“I understand they were going through a frustrating situation but as a paying customer, so was I,” Ketzner said.

As for Ketzner, she decided to share her concerns with 7 News Detroit reporter Kim Craig, who reached out to Priority Waste on her behalf.

“I reached out to my fellow neighbors because nobody’s anticipating because it's been nearly eight weeks without service. So I wanted to make sure everyone knew get your trash out," Ketzner said. "Kimberly Craig's on the scene, so get your trash out to the corners because I'm anticipating it'll be picked up and it was! So thanks to her — all blessings to her.”