NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans announced that it will award four contracts aimed at solving the city’s ongoing solid waste collection crisis. Emergency contracts will be awarded to Ceres Environmental Services LLC, River Birch LLC, Waste Management Inc. and Witt O’Brien’s LLC. The City is pursuing FEMA funding to subsidize the cost; the current estimates for all new emergency trash collection is in the range of $20 million.
“These additional contracts will supplement curbside solid waste trash collection in both service areas and will include methodical coordination as they work in partnership with our current contractors that are stepping in to assist,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell in a press release. “Residents are still very frustrated and we recognize that action is the only thing that will give our people comfort as we shift gears to address our trash collection challenges. This is a daunting task, but we now have the resources needed to succeed.”
“We have continued to bring all available resources to bear to rid our neighborhoods of trash,” said Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Infrastructure Ramsey Green. “Our first attempt at contracting out additional support received no responsive bidders for Service Area 2 despite a national call for help. So, we mobilized equipment and labor from multiple City departments and partner agencies in the interim to address this crisis little by little, and simultaneously continued to pursue other more expedient options. Now, we have assembled the right mix of people, equipment and a local transfer station to begin to make substantial progress toward solving this crisis in the next week.”
Tthe Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness will help manage the process. GOHSEP Branch Manager Lieutenant Colonel Euclid D. Talley will oversee the day-to-day operations in support of the Director of Sanitation. Together, the four companies will begin emergency trash collection on Friday, Sept. 24. In the coming days, a progress map for this operation will be available on ready.nola.gov.
Curbside recycling remains suspended while contractors focus on solid waste collection. Residents can bring their recycling to the Elysian Fields Drop Off which is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 25 from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. Here is a link to the remaining drop off schedule for 2021.
Residents may call 311 for questions regarding solid waste collection and debris removal.