New Orleans Shifts to Once-a-Week Garbage Collection

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans hopes a temporary shift to once-weekly garbage collections will help address the piles of trash and debris that have piled up along streets across much of the city.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration Saturday announced the change to its solid waste collection as a way to bring a level of consistency to residents.

“We are collectively beginning to see the progress on the ground, but it’s time to bring some predictability so that our residents can better prepare for their trash collection,” said Director of Sanitation Matt Torri in a statement. “We are confident that this temporary move will help to get us back on track and result in the same amount of trash being picked up once each week.”

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The city’s two primary solid waste contractors, Metro Service Group and Richard’s Disposal, are supposed to collect garbage twice a week, but they have fallen behind throughout the year primarily because of staffing shortages brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. After Hurricane Ida, the situation worsened.

Torri said the shift to once-weekly pickup is “temporary,” but the administration is not committing to any collection schedule in the future.

Cantrell announced on Sept. 23 that she had hired four emergency contractors to clear out the backlog while Metro and Richard’s resumed regular collections. That effort is expected to last a month and cost and estimated $20 million to $30 million, The Times Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to reimburse the city for a “single pass” of emergency collections, but it is not clear how much of the cost the city will recoup.

More than 22,000 tons of solid waste had been collected since Sept. 1, according to the administration, but only a small number of areas have been completely cleared.

The problem has been most severe in the Metro service area, which covers eastern New Orleans, Gentilly and Lakeview neighborhoods. The administration has previously announced that it will rebid Metro’s seven-year contract before the end of the year, and reiterated that point in a statement Saturday.

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“Once the contract has been awarded, information about the frequency of collections will be shared,” the statement said.

The city plans to monitor Richard’s service area, which covers Algiers, parts of Mid-City and upriver neighborhoods, “to determine whether a return to twice-weekly collection is feasible in the near future,” the statement said.

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