Bumpy road for Waste Pro

Park Avenue business owners agree: one man’s trash shouldn’t be another man’s problem. But some say the city’s waste management service is making it one.

Overflowing and inconvenient dumpsters, crowded compactors and hikes in service price are the most common concerns issued by businesses since Winter Park’s waste management agreement switched hands two years ago from Waste Management to Waste Pro.

But David Zusi, the director of water and waste utility for the city, said the problem at hand isn’t necessarily a new one, just a new company trying to clean up an old mess.

Clean-up crew

As of April 2009, the Waste Pro company took over waste services in Winter Park, and Zusi said it was around that time that issues regarding the trash pick-up on Park Avenue came to light.

Zusi said the previous contractor, Waste Management, had “given up” on properly billing businesses and residents on Park Avenue, leaving some businesses paying little to nothing for their trash pickup.

“For years people were not paying for the services they were receiving,” Zusi said. “Now they get a bill and they think they’re being treated unfairly. But they’re really not.”

When Waste Pro took over, Tim Dolan, Waste Pro’s Central Florida regional vice president, said his company had to start the billing process from scratch using formulas to calculate how much to bill each customer, using information such as usage and square footage.

“At the end of the day, both for the city and for my company, all we’re trying to do is bill people proportionally for what they use and be fair for all involved,” Dolan said.

Waste worries

Nearly all buildings on Park Avenue are serviced by trash compactors, which are shared by the building’s tenants. Ideally, Dolan said, each business would receive and pay for their fair share of the bill.

Debbie Letterio, manager at Eileen Fischer, said for at least her building, this has not been seen.

“Not everyone who uses our compactor is paying for it,” Letterio said. “But there’s no lock and there is no one manning it, so who’s to know.”

Whether it is from random passers-by wanting to dump trash in commercial compactors, or nearby tenants, managing waste is hard, Zusi said.

“We tried card readers (on the compactors), giving cards to businesses that were paying to put their trash in, but one of the issues we’re having is people just throwing it next to the dumpster in protest by piling trash everywhere,” he said.

Lester Lall, the owner of Circa Restaurant on Park Avenue, said the overflowing of trash is his biggest problem with his waste service. He said that after construction began behind his building more than two years ago, the compactor that used to service his restaurant has been replaced with five dumpsters — one labeled specifically for his restaurant.

“They gave us a small unit, and over the weekend especially, it really fills up. I don’t want my customers parking alongside of the building to see and smell that … I’m not really concerned by the service, but by the appearance,” Lall said.

No simple solution

“I truly don’t know what the solution is — but right now, it’s just atrocious,” Lall said.

Letterio said she didn’t know either, but that she just wants the problem fixed.

Zusi said the city and Waste Pro are working together to give Winter Park better waste management service as their contract extends until April 2016, but he admits the past two years have been bumpy.

“Things could have been smoother, but we’re doing our best now to come up with a fair agreement,” he said.

The city is offering a “catch-up” plan for businesses that are being billed for their trash service for the first time or have experienced large increases in their fees. Zusi said the plan allows them to pay double each month until they catch up. “We’re not trying to kill anybody,” he said.

Up until recently, the punishment for not paying your waste fee was discontinued service, which allowed trash to build up when people stopped paying. Zusi said this led to a number of complaints by other businesses, like those voiced by Debbie Letterio, about unsightly trash piles.

In order to alleviate the issue, the city has decided to start linking waste fees to residents’ general utility bill, meaning if you don’t pay for trash, all your utilities will be shut off, Zusi said.

As far as the compactor-versus-dumpster debate, and monitoring who dumps trash where, Dolan said they have yet to find one simple solution. Together with the city, he said Waste Pro is trying to work out the best system possible. That could mean locks on dumpsters and key cards on compactors.

“Nothing’s ever perfect,” Dolan said, “but I think for the most part, we’ve come up with a system that’s fair for all those involved.”