We usually don’t think about trash until it doesn’t get picked up. For many residents of New Orleans though, garbage pickup has been front of mind. In the latest quality of life survey conducted by the University of New Orleans, 67% of the people surveyed considered trash pickup in Orleans Parrish “poor” or “very poor”. In 2018, only 12% considered trash pickup “poor” or “very poor”.
Starting November 7th, IV Waste will take over the trash pickup in Area 2 West of the city of New Orleans. Through an Instagram video, Sidney Torres IV, the owner of IV Waste, told New Orleans residents in “if you live in this area you won’t have to worry about trash pickup anymore.” That pledge from Torres will likely be welcomed by residents who have seen inconsistent garbage collection over the last year. Problems with trash pickup in New Orleans were glaring in 2021 after Hurricane Ida. For weeks, overflowing trash bins and piles of garbage sat uncollected. While most people in New Orleans recognized the hurricane’s effect on garbage collection, patchy pickup lasted well after the storm. In response, the city of New Orleans had to reduce garbage pickup to once a week and eventually it rebid the contract for Metro Service Group, which handled trash pickup in areas including Lakeview, Gentilly and New Orleans East. Starting in November, IV Waste and Waste Pro Louisiana will assume the collections once handled by Metro, which recently filed for bankruptcy protection.
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Like so many sectors of the economy, local waste management companies have experienced deep labor shortages since the COVID-19 pandemic. Staffing though, is just one aspect of an industry in which contracts are often worth tens of millions of dollars and the competition can be cutthroat. I visited one family-owned operation to see how difficult and dirty the garbage business has gotten. Listen to my story above.