8,000 complaints about delayed or missed trash pickups, staffing shortage to blame
St. Lucie County, Fl (treasurecoast.com) -For more than a year, thousands of Waste Pro customers here have grumbled about poor service ranging from late to repeatedly missed trash pickups.
Now, as summer storms pummel the Treasure Coast, delays have worsened; threatening to end two of the garbage company’s contracts.
“Weather is always a factor in Florida, and we work with Waste Pro to use their call-notification system whenever there are delays,” said city spokesperson Sarah Prohaska.
Both Port St. Lucie and county are pleading for customers’ patience and asking them to leave garbage out for either late collection or early collection the next day.
Moreover, in unincorporated county neighborhoods where waste collection was missed this week, customers are asked to put their trash bins out between 7 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. if possible.
Rain, thunder and lightning caused delays this week, but customers here have been complaining of late and missed pickups since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s gotten so bad — reflected by nearly 8,700 complaints Waste Pro received from St. Lucie County customers between January 2020 and March — that the county has fined the company $176,750 since January 2020.
Both trash and complaints also are piling up in Port St. Lucie. There were recently 89 missed routes within a two-week period and roughly 1,100 complaints in one month, City Councilwoman Shannon Martin said at a meeting Monday.
8,700 complaints: Customers dissatisfied with trash pickups, will St. Lucie cut ties with Waste Pro?
Like the county, Port St. Lucie has imposed administrative charges, or withheld payments, equivalent to $687,200 from May 1 to June 19. In all of 2020, by comparison, administrative charges imposed on Waste Pro by the city amounted to $240,000.
Waste Pro officials attribute its struggles to a staffing shortage amid the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically a scarcity of eligible, licensed, professional drivers.
As Waste Pro grapples with a staffing shortage, it said the company is actively recruiting drivers by increasing its presence at local job fairs and launching retention and new-driver referral bonuses.
The situation has left some questioning whether the city and county should cut ties with Waste Pro. Some expressed gratitude for the garbage truck drivers on social media while others shared words of frustration.
The County Commission on April 13 discussed giving the company six-months to improve its performance or the county would consider its options.
The end of the probationary period has not yet been determined, county officials said. However, the county’s Solid Waste Division meets with Waste Pro twice a month to discuss improvements and progress, according to county spokesperson Erick Gill.
In Port St. Lucie, the City Council this week put Waste Pro on notice. If it fails to provide the city with a plan for how it will improve services by June 30, Port St., Lucie, too, may explore other options.
