A new company will haul Islamorada’s trash beginning Jan. 1, 2024, following the village council’s unanimous approval of a contract at a special July 17 meeting.
Details of the agreement between the village and Island Disposal Company, under the ownership of Islamorada resident Brian Lindback, include a 10-year term with an option to renew for an additional five years after it expires Dec. 31, 2033. Services would largely remain the same, with residential garbage pickup twice a week and yard waste and recycling gathered once a week.
Garbage and yard waste service and recycling collection are provided to some 4,385 residential customers living in single-family homes, multifamily duplexes and triplex buildings, as well as 289 commercial clients. Any building with four or more units is considered a commercial customer.
Lindback brought in a pair of village residents in Glen Miller and Jim Wheatley, who both had long careers in garbage hauling in various states, to help run the business. Lindback formerly ran Atlantic Trash & Transfer, which provides Dumpsters and porta-potties, before selling the business to Logan Malson.
A 5-0 vote to go with Island Disposal Company means the end of garbage pickup by Waste Management on Dec. 31. The multibillion dollar company acquired Advanced Disposal in October 2020. In 2013, the village had contracted garbage and recycling collection to Advanced Disposal over a 10-year period.
Issues of broken-down trucks and missed trash pickups transpired over that time, causing concern among community members and village officials. But those problems largely subsided once Waste Management took over collection.
“I’m concerned about the citizens of the village,” said Greg Sullivan, local manager for Waste Management, as he spoke to the dais on July 17. “When push comes to shove, they (Island Disposal Company) don’t have the depth we do.”
Before the vote, Sullivan took to the podium to address some concerns over the contract between the village and Island Disposal Company — one being the possible increase of rates over time. Per the agreement, Island Disposal Company is entitled to a cost of living adjustment for disposal. However, if disposal costs increase or decrease based on the current price Monroe County charges for garbage shipment to a landfill, the “village agrees to work with the contractor to provide any increase or decrease in the fees paid by customers in the village.”
And should the cost of diesel fuel increase in excess of 15% annually, the “village agrees to work with the contractor to alleviate such cost increase with temporary increase to cover the additional fuel cost.” Should the inflated fuel cost decrease, then the prior approved increase will automatically decrease, per language in the contract.
“They have the two biggest concessions in the world, fuel and disposal. You guys opened it wide open,” Sullivan told the council.
Councilman Henry Rosenthal asked Lindback how he interpreted the section of the contract related to the possible additional fees and how the village would work with his company to alleviate it.
“If there’s a decrease or increase, we will come to you and we’ll tell you what happened over the CPI (consumer price index) that things have gotten out of control, and can you work with us in a way to move the price up of the contracted dump,” Lindback said.
Village Manager Ted Yates said costs to transport garbage to the transfer station, which is driven by the rate to haul to landfills in neighboring counties, is out of the company’s control. Rather than flat out saying “no” to a rate adjustment, Yates said the contract allows both sides to sit down in “good faith” and examine the additional cost.
Last February, the village council directed Yates not to exercise an option to renew Waste Management’s contract another five years. And that was after Waste Management was turned down by the council for two rate increases to confront growing fuel and labor costs.
With the contract expiring Dec. 31, the village began to seek proposals for garbage, yard waste and recycling collection. Bids came back from Waste Management, Atlantic Trash & Transfer of Key Largo, and Island Disposal Company. An evaluation committee recommended the council choose Lindback’s company.
Per the contract, the village will pay Island Disposal Company $41.01 per month per residential customer, or $492.12 per year, for waste collection. That’s up just a few dollars from the previous fiscal year, when Waste Management collected $490 a year from residential customers after the previous council approved a 7.5% increase to address rising labor and fuel costs. Islamorada officials budgeted just over $2 million for residential solid waste services for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
Per the contract, Island Disposal Company is required to pay a franchise fee of 15% of gross revenues for residential and commercial collection for use of the village’s streets, rights-of-way and roadways.
Lindback said he expects to have trash and recycling containers and trucks ready by the Jan. 1, 2024 start date.
