NEW ORLEANS — The city of New Orleans has awarded four emergency solid waste collection contracts in an effort to catch up on the removal of garbage that has festered in many cases since Hurricane Ida struck more than three weeks ago.
The contracts with River Birch Landfill, Waste Management Inc., Witt O’Brien’s LLC, and Ceres Environmental, will complement and not replace the current contracts with Richards and Metro Disposal, which have the current contracts for solid waste pickup.
Metro, in particular, was in arrears with collections prior to Ida and has had a hard time after the storm, facing a three to four-fold increase in solid waste collection with about 25 percent of the normal workforce, according to Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
Cantrell said she thought the emergency contracts would cost about $20 million and was hoping for reimbursement to the city from FEMA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3IBlf8aRjI
The city has used a multi-faceted approach to the trash collection problem, which included using city workers in “Operation Mardi Gras,” which began a week ago and features pickup procedures similar to those used after Mardi Gras parades, with workers and front loaders traversing the street, picking up bags and tossing them into the back of big trucks to be hauled to the landfill.
In addition, the city opened a transfer station on Elysian Fields where people could bring their own waste for dumping.
“The only thing that will give real comfort to the residents of the city is action,” said Cantrell.
With service being backlogged, leaving rotting trash as an eyesore and a putrid-smelling issue, the city council agreed to a credit of $24 for one month’s worth of sanitation service on the next bill to customers.
The amount will be credited to the account.
Cantrell said there are some neighborhoods in the city of New Orleans that still haven't had a single pickup, even up to a few weeks prior to Ida. Cantrell said those neighborhoods would "be a priority."
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