Priority Waste township services criticized

By Dana Casadei

Discussion of Bloomfield Township’s ever growing problem with the solid waste services it receives from Priority Waste was a last minute addition to the board of trustees agenda at the Monday, November 11 meeting, where all trustees were vocal about their current dissatisfaction with the company. 

“I for one never thought this was the right decision. They were a company who had not proved themselves and they certainly are not up to the Bloomfield Township standard as far as having exemplary service,” said trustee Neal Barnett. “They don’t belong in Bloomfield Township, and they’ve proven in each community they can’t handle it.”

Currently, the township has 34 ongoing issues with Priority Waste, lasting from weeks to months, such as residents not receiving a new trash receptacle for months – which should only take 48 hours. 

“When we talk about numbers, that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Noah Mehalski, director of public works. “People have become dissatisfied about how bad these issues are.”

This wasn’t always the case with the township’s solid waste services. 

In 1991, the township was authorized to facilitate a consolidated municipal solid waste program on behalf of all residents to help streamline solid waste collection, and reduce truck traffic and the increased noise and damage associated with traffic from multiple firms servicing the township. 

Since then, that contract has been awarded four times, and been mostly successful but that no longer seems to be the case, with problems building year after year, officials said. 

Issues in general with Priority Waste are nothing new for Bloomfield Township, and started in 2023 when the township began to work with them. When they first started the township’s department of public works was receiving complaints in the thousands on everything from the services to billing problems.

Some of those issues are still present, including an inability to provide trash carts to the overall lack of removal of rubbish, recycling and yard waste, according to officials.

Recently, there has been uptick in complaints from residents since compost collection has started. And twice last week DPW got emails that Priority Waste hadn’t completed their service for residents. 

Two months ago township supervisor Mike McCready and Mehalski met with the Priority Waste CEO, who made promises of 12 new trucks and service improvement. Both have yet to come to fruition. 

According to Mehalski, the trucks currently being used tend to leak and litter all over the Bloomfield Township community. The littering has gotten so bad that Mehalski believes it may be time for a state legislator to take a look at the issue.

With the problem growing Mehalski has been working with Anthony Chubb, general counsel for Bloomfield Township, on their options to see if it would be possible to get out of their contract with Priority Waste. The current contract with Priority Waste is set to expire in June 2031 as part of an eight-year agreementr.

Multiple people on the board wondered why they would even want this contract with Bloomfield Township when they can’t seem to handle it. Chubb said Priority Waste hasn’t shown any interest in a mutual separation with the township during meetings they’ve had.

“We’re working to ensure that Bloomfield Township is in a strong position and show they have clearly violated our contract on paper,” Chubb said. “This is a large contract for them; there will be push back.”

Outside of the possible pushback and fight from Priority Waste if the township takes them to court the biggest concern is the very real possibility of this turning into a health emergency declaration, officials said. 

Because of all of these issues with Priority Waste, Mehalski said they have begun to look into other companies to use in Bloomfield Township, but that comes with its own complexities. 

The company the township used to use no longer does residential solid waste removal in the area, and other companies are too costly, too new, or too inexperienced with an area the size of Bloomfield Township, where there are 17,000 houses to do pick up from. 

McCready suggested splitting Bloomfield Township into quadrants and having different companies for each one. This way they could contract for a shorter period of time, then determine if someone could gain more ground within the township.

“We can’t mess up again. We’re the ones getting the calls and are concerned,” Mehalski said. “I’d look to the suppliers… we would be really careful.”

“Hopefully we can find a good solution for the residents that won’t affect their pocket books too much,” said trustee Mark Antakli.

Mehalski said he and DPW plan to keep the pressure on Priority Waste and update the board.