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By Jeff Moore

Contributing writer

 

Crisp County’s transition to a new trash collection company April 1 appears to be off to a good start.

Officials with Express Disposal attended the Tuesday, April 8 Crisp County Board of Commissioners meeting to discuss progress in the move from Waste Management for residential and commercial trash collection.

Express Disposal Vice President Clint Eudy and Cordele Operations Supervisor Keith Mack were at Tuesday’s meeting.

Prior to introducing the two, Interim County Administrator Mickey Dunnavant said he has been working with Express Disposal and is pleased with what he is seeing.

“He answers the phone,” Dunnavent said. “He gets in the vehicle with me. He goes and looks at the issues.”

No excuses are made, he said, adding that the company then takes care of the issue.

“I’m really excited to be working with him and Express,” Dunnavant said.

Mack said he said he believes the transition is going well.

The company has distributed its carts throughout the county through a firm that specializes in their delivery.

“They deliver and pick up carts for companies during transitions,” Mack explained. “We did hire the same company along with Waste Management.”

Through the process, Express Disposal is now running the routes in the county to collect trash while the cart delivery and pick up of Waste Management’s carts is completed.

“We’re also trying to make sure we serve our customers at the same time,” Mack explained.

Eudy said he believes between 75% and 80% of the Waste Management carts have been collected, while he said they are working to get carts to everyone in Crisp County.

“It’s just gonna take some time,” he said. “That company last week did a final sweep through the county.”

Waste Management carts that were not picked up that were need to be left at the roadside, Eudy explained, adding they will be picked up with the garbage and taken to the landfill.

In a Friday interview, Mack said they continue to receive a lot of questions about Waste Management carts left behind. He said they will be picked up and disposed of with a resident’s garbage.

Making sure everyone receives their bills for the subscription service is a key area where there is more work to do. Eudy said with the limited information on the lists provided to them by Waste Management, they have sent bills to many, but not everyone.

Commissioner Larry Felton said he has heard concern from some residents who were not comfortable providing a card to charge monthly or their bank account and routing numbers for automatic payment.

Eudy said they can pay by check, noting that when they do that the information for automatic payment is on the check so it can be processed.

“We’re strongly pushing that because the collection rates going the other route (paying by check) are not very good,” he explained. “We’re offering people if they want to pay by check, mailing in a year in advance.”

In the waste disposal business, Eudy said, they must be able to collect the money to keep their performance up.

He said they still need to get billing accounts set up for about 25% of the county’s customers, noting Express Disposal did not get all the information needed to bill everyone from the list provided by Waste Management.

In the Friday interview, Mack said anyone who is not set up for making payments can call the Express Disposal office at 809-B 11th Ave. E. in Cordele or call the office at 229-352-4300, and press option 3 to reach the Cordele office staff. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Crisp County residents also can visit their website to sign up for the garbage collection subscription at expressdisposal.co/subscriptions-crisp-co.

Mack noted that they have seen a lot of people come in or who have called to establish their accounts with Express Disposal.

He added that if anyone in the county did not receive a cart for garbage collection and wants the service, they should come to the office or call.

“We’ll get them squared away,” Mack said. “Someone may not have a cart because they may not been at the set up for service already.”

While Express Disposal mailed post cards throughout the county to tell residents which days are theirs for collection, if someone needs that information they can call of office or stop by.

The county commission made the move from Waste Management as its contract was set to expire citing problems with the company’s service.

Express Disposal and Waste Management were among five companies that submitted bids to provide the service in the county. Commissioners accepted the Express Disposal bid that sets the monthly fee for service at $17.95 per month per customers. Express also provides trash collection services for the city of Cordele.