Council Goes for Local Trash Pickup, Rejects Waste Management

Posted in Business, Community, Economic Development, Labor, Oakland Talks Trash

By Ken A. Epstein

It was David versus Goliath, a multinational garbage removal corporation going up against a company that began in West Oakland and has grown larger while cooperating with the city and hiring local residents.

During several years of negotiations, City Administration has told council members a slanted story that favored Waste Management, pushing the council to approve a contract that would raise trash pick-up rates by 50 percent for households and shifted most of the risks and liabilities to the city.

Waste management has angered community groups by its reluctance to support community efforts to clean up illegal dumping.

On the other hand, staff had nothing good to say about California Waste Solutions (CWS), which has already been conducting curbside recycling in Oakland and would raise rates by about 26 percent.

On Wednesday night, however, in an upset that surprised everyone, the council voted unanimously to give the contract to CWS.

“I have to tell you last night was major – it was epic,” said Councilmember Lynette McElhaney in an interview with the Post on Thursday. She said she led the fight to give the contact to CWS, joined by Larry Reid and supported by Dan Kalb and Rebecca Kaplan.

“Staff has only had one answer for us, and that was Waste Management.” she said.

According to staff, she said, “there was nothing positive in the CWS proposal, only risks; and for Waste Management, only positives and no risks.”

“What they proposed would have decimated a West Oakland company – California Waste Solutions – and I wasn’t having it.”

Ultimately, she said, the council had the choice of going with a multinational corporation that will charge more and has done nothing to partner with local businesses, agencies and the community.

Or it could pick the firm that is cheaper and already has a track record of hiring local youth. CWS is also partnering with East Bay Municipal Utility District and Civicorps, which hires and trains many young people who need a second chance.

CWS will hire workers from Waste Management, which was part of the city’s requirements. In addition, the company will hire several hundred local workers and 200 construction workers to build a recycling site at the Oakland Army Base.

“Last night, we created a major economic ecosystem in West Oakland, a billion dollar business,” McElhaney said.

Pointing to Oakland’s past efforts that led to the founding of CWS, she said, “It was (former Mayor) Elihu Harris’ brilliance 22 years ago to introduce competition into our waste system, so we wouldn’t be bound to the Waste Management monopoly.”

Following the council’s vote, City Administrator Henry Gardner said that staff support for waste Management “was based on the professional expertise of experienced staff and incorporated the evaluation of objective, third-party subject area experts who evaluated the risks and benefits of the competing proposals.”

He said staff believed that Waste Management’s proposal offered the “highest waste diversion towards the Council’s Zero Waste goal (and the) best value and experience for the ratepayer.”

” I want it to be clear to the council and to the public that the staff’s commitment is unqualified in making sure that this is as smooth a transition as possible, (to CWS),” Gardner said.