Here is the update on The New Gwinnett Trash Plan
In 2004 Gwinnett County charged Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, along with it’s Citizens Solid Waste Advisory Board, to develope a solid waste management plan as required by Georgia law. The purpose of the law is to establish a long term plan of action to provide for improved garbage disposal and increased recycling in the state.
Gwinnett County Residential Trash Pick Up Plan Announced
Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful has announced the details regarding the new residential trash pick up plan for Gwinnett County. The county has been divided into six areas with Advanced Disposal Services Atlanta, LLC handling the three northern areas and Waste Pro of Georgia, Inc. handling the three southern areas. This plan goes into effect on January 2, 2009 and encompasses all residents of unincorporated Gwinnett County. Each residence will receive 2 of the 95 gallon wheeled carts, one for trash and the other for recyclables.
How Much Will It Cost
Initially, and through June 30, 2009, the service providers will bill the residents at a rate of $20.45 per month. Then beginning in July residents will stop receiving bills from the providers and a once a year payment, of $214.32 or $17.86 per month, will be paid when the property taxes are paid. This fixed rate will remain in force at least until December 31, 2010. After that time any fee increases must be justified by the provider and brought in front of the Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful Board and would have to receive support from the board. Yard waste pick up is optional and will be billed at a rate of $10.00 per month.
One Benefit
One of the benefits that I forsee from this program is the reduced number of garbage collection trucks and trash out by the curb on various days of the week. Currently in many subdivisions there are multiple providers for trash removal which creates collections on different days along with trash being put out on different days. By going to this plan there will only be one day of the week that trash will be visible at the street.
Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful has set up a web page for Frequently Asked Questions regarding this plan.
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The BBB closed my incident against Waste Industries. They left at as unresolved. Waste Industries and our BoC use any way to get more money out of our pockets.
I still think that Waste Management sent out the bills illegally when the billing date of the fee is before the request notice that they were required to file with the county.
Anybody with any friendly lawyers look at Sec. 4-2010(a) of the County waste disposal ordnance (page 19). There is a part that states “Amended schedules shall be filed if rates and fees change not later than the date such changes take effect”. The county was notified of the change on 11.20.08. My bill and others that I have seen have a line item with the “Deactivation Fee” dated 11.12.08.
I guess the next step for me will be to help with working against the re-election of our current board members. Their attitudes and actions for this whole process (along with many others) is not in the best interest of this Gwinnett County homeowner and tax payer.
Yes ,Louise and JeffW, you are right.
Funny how the note taking started AFTER the “done deal” got challenged in court.
Where was all this reasonable discourse for 4 years?
Oh yeah…it was in my WATER BILL. How stupid. of me.
THE JUDGE JUST GRANTED AN INJUNCTION TO STOP THE PLAN ACCORDING TO GWINNETTDAILYPOST.COM…
Here is the link to the Gwinnett Daily Post article:
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/main.asp?SectionID=6&SubSectionID=84&ArticleID=54117
I hope Waste Industries looses all their business for the way they treated their customers!
In related news: HUGE coal shipment delivered to GJAC by fat ,jolly old elf.
Jay Thanks for the laugh.
Charles, Connie, Keven K, Bert, Jim Perry (WI) & company-
This is Santa. You’ve been very bad this year. Look up your chimney’s, I have some (‘ahem’) “natural recycled” materials for you….
And it ain’t coal….but maybe you could add it to your compost piles.
And under your tree, I’m leaving you some plastic bags of reindeer “recyclables”.
Enjoy,
Santa KB Claus
My goodness, am I being too churlish? Grow some stones Bert & stop whimpering like a poor mistreated little girl.
Ok, so advice here. How do I deal with Robertson. Others say great things about them but they have failed to pick up my recycling for 2 weeks straight now, and I pay 75.00 per quarter for some reason (no yard waste) whereas others are saying they pay 45.00. Don’t want to tell them to take a hike cause scared other companies won’t want to take on new business because of all the craziness.
Hurray for Roy Barnes, Judge Clark, Southern Sanitation and Sanitation Solutions. Please, folks, dont’t continue with Waste Industries. I don’t think Southern Sanitation or Sanitation Solutions service my area (Lilburn) so I will probably go with Robertson. I had them as a carrier a while back and my complaint was that they kept raising my bill but signing on new customers at a lower rate. I probably should have called them and asked for a lower rate because as soon as I signed up with Waste Industries (my bad) , they offered to lower my charges. They did not charge me a deactivation fee. At any rate, I suspect they are the lesser of the evils out there so I am calling them tomorrow to set up service and if they can service me, I am going to give their phone number to my neighbors who use waste industries.
Too bad that there are only a “large handful” of people fervently and urgently expressing their general beliefs that Gwinnett BOC members are feathering their own nests while ignoring the public they are sworn to serve.
The trash plan rivals the Stadium for sheer bald chutzpah. What happened to common logic that improving the “respectability” of recycling did not in any way depend upon reorganizing general trash hauling into a monopolistic closed society with no recourse short of a full-blown lawsuit for poor service or mis-billings. Futrther, did anyone consider the increased joblessness which this plan promotes or the ringing endorsement of anti-competitive behaviour (likely intended to be heralded from the highest ramparts of the “absolutely necessary” Gwinnett Stadium.)
Please Gwinnett, before we awaken to find the recycle gestapo, monopolies, and puppet advisory boards reinstated for all utility services (contra arch-Conservativism’s vehement utterances I might add), let us all open our eyes to the massive fallacies and subversions accompanying the County Commission’s new “necessities” and “respect” for County citizens.
JDJ
My Waste Industries Invoice for the month of December including the $23.50 extra charge was due on the 7th of this month. I too balked at the extra charge and didn’t pay on time. What did they do? They confiscated the garbage container. Thanks a lot, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. ?????
I’m enfuriated that I no longer have a choice for my trash pick up and that my bill has almost doubled because Gwinnett Co. decided to make this decision for me. I thought this was America where free enterprise lived and people had choices. It seems silly to me that women can chose to get an abortion and I can’t even chose my garbage service. What’s wrong with this picture? I’m sure Gwinnett Co. isn’t going to foot the difference in my bill either. Has anyone tried to challenge this decision?
Wanna see something that will warm your cockles & put the jingle back in your bells? Head on over to….
http://www.gwinnettcbservices.org/
SWEET!!!!!!!!
KB
KB that is the most beautiful thing I have seen in months.
Funny. That’s the thing about these nanny-staters. Peel back the Green and underneath is pure Red.
Yeah!!!!! Much thanks to everybody who stood up for our rights and what is right. I am still going to help campaign against our current BoC when election time comes around. I want a BoC who works for us in a sensible fashion. Not cramming down our throats ideas that have not been thought through. Or spending $15,000 of our tax money on a retreat to work when there is plenty of county space and boxes to hold their cell phones so they are not bothered.
I am going to wait a week before going to a new trash provider. I refuse to go back to Waste Industries because of their “Deactivation Fee”.
Any recommendations for haulers in the Lawrenceville area? I would like to go with one of the local companies if they are rate competitive.
We may have a problem folks. I called Robinson Sanitation this morning to get service with them beginning in Jan. The lady said she could not sign me up because they still had to go back to court. Not sure what this is about unless it has to do with getting their franchise renewed. Has anyone else been able to establish service with another company than Waste Industries beginning in Jan.
Below is a link to the people behind the GCB. They cowardly removed this link from their homepage (I guess they want to hide). If you know any of these people, please try to talk some sense into them. I would be ashamed to serve on this board.
http://www.gwinnettcb.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=74&Itemid=92
I found out that Southern Sanitation does service Lilburn where I live. Have called them for service beginning in Jan. Their number is 770 5546450.
Love the new and improved GCB Services site. Also printed off the list of the folks behind the GCB. Some of them may seek office in Gwinnett sometime. Thanks Jeff and KB.
Ya know, much later on & down the road, when this is all settled to our satisfaction, we ought to have a picnic get-together at one of the fine Gwinnett Parks we paid for. It would be great to meet you wonderful folks. (At least we’d clean up our own trash afterward). Should also add this to the Trash Gwinnett website too.
KB
KB I’m in.
Mack,
I have not paid my $23.50 deactivation fee to WI yet, since I have not “deactivated” my service. I called them this morning to see if they would remove the fee; they said they are negotiating with the county to see what to do, and they would be posting a notice on their web site. Not sure if that’s good or bad. I, too, complained to the BBB and got a six-page response from WI’s attorneys. BBB closed it after I rejected their response with my own 2-page rebuttal.
These guys are unethical. Any chance of a class-action lawsuit? As for the Board, how about a recall or mass call for resignations?
After the way Waste Industries has treated their customers I would hope that no one would use them. For those that do, you just may get hit with another deactivation fee.
So– I paid Waste Ind. the deactivation fee and they still picked up my can two weeks prior to the sceduled termination of their service! I then got a new can from Advanced Disposal even though I did not ask for one. They delivered cans to my entire subdivision this past Monday. So– I paid Advanced Disposal for six months of service. In light of Judge Clark’s ruling– where does this leave me (and the rest of us). Does Waste Ind. owe everyone who paid the termination fee 23.50? Who will pick up our garbage? Why does this sound like a soap opera? Why is the govt so incompetent?
Any news as to what we are to do with our newly delivered container. I have not paid. Will they be picking up my trash or not?
My old company said they’d still be picking up until ct said otherwise but is Advanced actually enjoined from collecting under the new plan??
this is Don Shaw’s ( from http://www.trashgwinnett.com) recommendation from his update email
“On a closing note, for those of us that have had the new containers delivered I propose this. Today I will send a certified letter to Advanced Waste requesting the container that has been delivered to my house, not requested by me, be removed form my property withing ten days or I deem such container abandoned and will be disposed of in the method of my choice. I will also copy GCB and GCB Services along with the BoC.
I would also like to suggest that you call your current hauler and make sure they will continue to pick your garbage after 12/31/08, I strongly encourage you to continue with the company you have been using previously. I know some of you that received the disconnect fee are upset at those companies but I am not sure if their intentions were to incite in us to get on top of this and fight so go lightly on them but the decision is yours. If you choose not to go back to your previous provider I would like to suggest Southern Sanitation or Sanitation Solutions since they were the ones to fight this in court and help us all out. This is not an endorsement but merely a way to pay our gratitude to them.”
I recieved my bill from Atlanta Waste, I paid the $23.50. I called the county office and got really no information as-to the; I feel illegal charge.
I think the ones, ALL, in the county office should be replaced at the next election. We can have U.S. senators elected to office without experience; why can’t we have county officials elected that have common sense. In the past, I knew of roads to no-where paved in Gwinnett. The commissioners are ALL aware of this type of crap.
Maybe we can deduct the $23.50 from the first or second bill of the new service as an assumption fee and let them charge it off as an expense of doing business.
Jay~I think we should consider what will happen if we dispose of the container. Hopefully we can think this through better than the BOC and GC&B. If we dispose of a container, what will the ramifications be should the Judge remove the injunction? Would we be charged for a new one? I feel confident that at some point there will be a revised proposal of some kind that will cause the judge to change the order and allow some resemblance of this mess to go through.
I have to disagree with using your current provider if it is Waste Industries. Even though they were not my provider it really pisses me off to see a company attempt to take advantage of their customers. I think they have proven that they don’t care about their customers and they should not be rewarded with any business in this county.
I had Waste Industries (at least until Jan 1) and paid their extortion fee of $23.50. I hate them, but I don’t think there is time to switch again, I already have THREE 95-gallon containers at my house. I really wish Southern Sanitation served the Duluth area, I’d be glad to pay them. I guess I’ll just wait and see what happens; the trash may pile up at the curb for a while. Sorry neighbors, but I’m not responsible for this mess. This is Charles Bannister’s albatross. The new District 1 commissioner for our area is the former mayor of Duluth, Shirley Lasseter. She is reportedly allied with Bannister, but it would be smart for her to cut him loose and come out as the defender of the people, but I am doubtful she will do this.
mack,
I agree with you and sorta disagree with Don on this point. I wondered in the beginning of all this if maybe WI was just using their nasty little fee to wake up the citizens of Gwinnett to the **’Great Gwinnett Garbage Debacle of ‘08′ .
**that phrase is a trademark of rickybobbyinc. and not to be used without express written permission
A smart CEO would be beating the drum and saying
“Hey guys . See what we did ? We just did that to WARN you guys. That fee ? Fuggedaboutit! Check out our introductory 2 months free special.” or something like that.
Instead, the CEO seems to be thumbing his nose at customers and Gwinnett County alike. Hell of a way to run a railroad , huh? I think he may be confused about the whole “profit-motive” thing.
It’s academic for me since I use Robertson but I think I would tell WI to pound sand too.
The cans: I don’t know , mack. I don’t really think that there is a case to be made for abandonment of property since a) Waste Pro delivered the cans in good faith at the request of the county on behalf of the citizens ( yeah I know) and b) the cans were left on the curb which technically belongs to the county ( 11 foot right of way or so?). They will come and get them soon enough if it makes financial sense for them. If not, I guess it becomes a finders keepers deal.
I am going to have mine bronzed and placed at the end of the driveway with the following inscription :
“The Connie-Can: a Memorial to Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful “
I am going to date myself a bit here, years ago the cans in Atlanta were referred to as “Herbie The Curbie”. I think Gwinnett now has a name for their cans~ “Connie Can”. I love it!
You won’t believe this true story, but in 1986 the trash collectors in Gwinnett County would run from the street around my house to my backyard, open two Rubbermaid trash cans (that I bought at Wal-Mart), retrieve the bagged trash and run back to the truck an toss it in the hopper. I didn’t even have to take the cans to the street (100 ft distance). How’s that for service at $37 a quarter? Man, I miss the “old Gwinnett”! By the way, the Herbie-curbie thing was for in-town urbanites, they were actually proud of those things!
Just recieved the call from Waste Industries. They will continue services and will credit the $23.50 to the accounts to be reflected on the next bill. I have been with Waste Ind. for many years and have had good luck with them.
Maybe the county wised up!
This is great. I too sent a complaint to the BBB, and I also received the same threats from their lawyers stating that they wouldn’t budge and I had to pay the fee. My complaint was also closed as unresolved. Well I just opened it again to post this beauty. It’s a bit childish, so you’ll have to excuse me, but I couldn’t help myself. Enjoy:
Ha ha ha!! So the judge granted an injunction: http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/main.asp?SectionID=6&SubSectionID=84&ArticleID=54117
So I heard that you are now waiving the $23.50 deactivation fee. Too little, too late. I know the only reason you are doing this is to save face now. When you were leaving Gwinnett, it was, “screw us customers.” Now, it’s, “Awww, it was just a misunderstanding. We really do appreciate your business.”
Well, I guess Robertson Sanitation has you to thank for getting my business. They were professional throughout the whole ordeal. You guys could’ve walked away from this like heroes as Roberson Sanitation is, but no, you had to screw your customers. And now you are going to lose so much business in Gwinnett. I love it, and I love rubbing it in now. Ha ha ha ha ha!!
P.S. Ha ha ha!!
I just got the call too. Frankly, I’m putting a note on my trash for Monday saying GOOD FOR YOU WASTE INDUSTRIES
They didn’t have enough time to notify us (and i didn’t pay the deactivation fee) but I have no quarrel with their service nor their fee. I’m glad.
Could not disagree with Jan and Don Shaw more. I am firing Waste Industries. It is a matter of a simple phone call to Southern Sanitation to change haulers. I called this morning and Southern is happy to begin picking up my trash the first week in January.
Unlike Southern Sanitation and Sanitation Solutions, little guys who chose to go after Gwinnett Waste Industris chose to penalize their customers with a mean spirited and vindictive fee. Waste Industries never shared any of their profits with us during good times. Why should they expect to have us cover their business losses. How much better if a big company like Waste Industries had thrown their weight behind a suit against Gwinnett County- which is who harmed them by deactivating service. No company should be rewarded for treating there customers poorly. Do any of you really think Waste Industries was motivated by anything other than the collection of $600,000 for doing basicially nothing.
I don’t have the number for Sanitation Solutions, but the number for Southern Sanitation is 770 5546450. All of us who oppose the GCB plan owe a big thankyou to these little companies and Roy Barnes. I want to do business with companies like this. And I would love to see a company like Waste Industries out of Gwinnett. Billing me that fee may have been legal, but it wasn’t the right thing to do. Also, folks when I called their main office to ask about the fee and request it be removed from my account, they hung up on me- and I was not yelling or using profanity. I got the impression that the woman on the other end was just sick of phone calls about this issue. And, yes, I called back their HR department and complained- of course, I never heard anything.
One question for Jan. Seriously, why are you saying good for you to Waste Industries. They were not involved in the suit. All they did was charge their customers a fee. The little guys have had to pay the legal costs for the suit. That’s one reason I’m giving them my busiess.
Here is a link to a page on the Gwinnett County Website that talks about reverting back to the old system of trash collection as well as has a FAQ section:
http://www.gwinnettcounty.com/cgi-bin/gwincty/egov/ep/gcbrowse.do?channelId=-536881898&pageTypeId=536880235
Yeah, Jan, that makes absolutely no sense. They don’t get the bid, so they arbitrarily charge their customers $23.50 for something the customers have no control over. They contribute in no way to the court battle; they refuse to answer their phones; they respond to BBB complaints by running to their lawyers; and now that the plan is halted, their customers get a robocall saying they’re valued as a customer?
Just popped in on http://www.trashgwinnett.com but got the “forbidden” error message. Anybody know what’s going on there? Hopefully just site maintenance?
KB
Re: @ 191: – its back up now…
Does anyone know what’s going on with Advanced disposal. If you already have their can but have not paid them, just wait to here from them about getting their can back? Are they no longer an option for a carrier?
I called up Southern Sanitation and am happy to be using their service starting the first week of Jan. I called up Waste Industries and cancelled. They sent me over to their manager and he asked me if I was aware the fee had been dropped. I said yes, but he had already lost my trust. He asked if there was anything he could do to keep me, and I told him no. He apologized, and I told him that I knew it wasn’t his fault. I told him that I know it was an upper management decision, and I feel for him because I think a lot of other people are going to do as I am. Then I wished him a Merry Christmas.
Louisefour, a lot of us would like to switch to Southern Sanitation from Waste Industries, but Southern Sanitation doesn’t serve western Gwinnett county. To avoid any more mixup in this chaos I’m staying with WI for the short-time being, then switching later on to someone else when and if I am allowed by our omnipotent, all-knowing government officials. WI ripped us off once and I’ll bet they’ll do it again if the BoC’s lawyers find a way to legitimize their scheme.
I’m sure you are right, Jeff. Any company that would treat its customers so poorly can’t be trusted and heaven knows the BoC and GCB (if they get a chance) aren’t going to protect our interests. Robertson Sanitation might be an alternative for you. I was really pleased to discover that Southern covered Lilburn,Lawrenceville. etc. And as it turns out, they are a few dollars cheaper than WI- not that it matters, I’m just happy to give these guys my business. Unless something more comes out about bidding irregularities, Waste Pro and Allied are not necessarily bad guys. They, too,are getting hurt in this mess that the BoC created.
JeffW, Check out Sanitation Solutions. I called Southern Sanitation and they told me they don’t operate in my area of Gwinnett (near MoG) but that Sanitation Solutions does operate here. They have a Cumming address, so I bet they serve western Gwinnett. I signed up today, $60/ qtr, no contract, includes can, recycling, and 8 bags of yard clippings per week. They are the other local carrier that fought the mess in court.
(I was paying $72/ qtr to WI (not anymore, or ever again) with no recycling & no yard clippings.)
Here’s the link to their site:
http://www.sanitationsolutions.net/
I spoke with Lisa, they seem like good people. My service starts this week.
Hope this helps!
KB
“ROGER on December 19th, 2008 3:04 am
My Waste Industries Invoice for the month of December including the $23.50 extra charge was due on the 7th of this month. I too balked at the extra charge and didn’t pay on time. What did they do? They confiscated the garbage container. Thanks a lot, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. ??????”
I know this is late but I also didn’t pay the $23.50 Allied Waste charged and they too confiscated my container. I can’t thank them enough though because I canceled and switched to Southern Sanitation for a substantially lower cost and hopefully better service. In trying to shaft me they actually ended up doing me a favor. Thanks Allied Waste!
So, I had to post this. Southern Sanitation just delivered our new bins. They actually brought the bins up to the garage and put them next to the garage! I hope this is a sign of things to come!
when did it become the duty of a civil entity to delegade trash pickup and disposal. This is socialism people, on a small scale perhaps but they are attemping to take away your ability to choose (capitalism). And all of this is being delegaded by gwinnett clean and beautiful! A non profit private organization!
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