For years and years, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners heard a bajillion loud complaints from county residents about trash collection in unincorporated Guilford County and select small towns.
But the county must be doing something right because those complaints have died down tremendously and now they’re few and far between.
On Thursday, May 5, the Board of Commissioners is set to vote on renewing contracts with several solid waste collection and disposal services as well as reiterate a “Solid Waste Collection Customer Bill of Rights.”
The current trash collection licenses will expire on June 30.
County officials recently inspected the vehicles of Republic Services, GFL Environmental and Randolph County Garbage Service in order to clear the path for the renewal and those were all found to be in “good operating condition.”
Under the new contracts, the county will have the right to work out issues individually with each provider. According to information county staff has provided the commissioners, “Performance standards will be attached to both the hauler application and provided as part of the hauler license … While the County can adopt uniform performance standards ‘across the board’ for all of its licensee haulers, the Board of County Commissioners do reserve the right to adjust performance standards, as deemed appropriate, from hauler to hauler while being consistent in customer delivery expectations.”
There are a whole lot of rules and regulations the trash collectors have to follow. In addition to the very lengthy Bill of Rights, they are also subject to rules that come from the companies’ license providers, NC General Statutes, Guilford County’s ordinances and the Guilford County Health Department.
The county’s waste collection Bill of Rights is written in a biblical style kind of like the 10 Commandments but there are a whole lot more than ten of them. Here is a small sample:
- Solid waste haulers shall deliver poly carts to new customers within seven business days.
- Solid waste haulers shall indicate where the solid waste hauler’s terms and conditions are conveniently available for review and comment by the customer.
- Solid waste collection rates for all services charged by the hauler may not exceed those rates set by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.
- The solid waste hauler shall notify its customers in writing at least 30-day prior to any change in rates.
- The solid waste hauler shall handle customer complaints in a prompt, courteous, and efficient manner.
- The solid waste hauler shall provide thirty days’ written notice to the customer prior to the discontinuation of service for nonpayment of a bill.
There are a lot more where those came from and it appears that the county’s current collectors are doing a much better job of following the commandments than those in the past.
