A new year will bring a new trash hauler to Eureka.
Meridian Waste will provide trash service for the city starting Jan. 2, 2023, chief marketing officer Mary O’Brien said.
The Eureka Board of Aldermen approved the change by a 6-0 vote on Nov. 1. Ward 3 Alderman Jerry Holloway was not at the meeting.
Waste Connections, Bridgeton, has provided trash-hauling service to the city since 2005, and Mayor Sean Flower said Eureka’s contract with the company expires at the end of the year.
He said the city received three bids to provide trash-hauling services, and Meridian Waste, based in Foristell, submitted the lowest bid.
“The rates were going to go up if we stayed with Waste Connections,” Flower said. “It’s good to go out and get a bid once in a while to make sure you are competitive in the market.”
The five-year contract between the city and Meridian Waste has residents paying $24.56 per month for limited trash pickup during the first year of the deal. Rates will increase each year of the contract, topping out at $31 per month in 2027, according to the contract.
City Administrator Craig Sabo said residents are paying $25.07 per month to Waste Connections for unlimited waste collection. He said that price would have increased to $28 per month in 2023.
Meridian Waste’s limited pickup means each household will receive a 95-gallon container for waste and a 65-gallon container for recycling. Residents may pay an additional $5 per month for a second trash container and another $5 per month for a second recycling container, according to the contract.
Currently, residents can provide their own trash cans or rent them from Waste Connections.
“Over the course of the next several weeks we will be educating our residents as to the changes through our website, email and the Leader,” Sabo said.
Meridian Waste also will pick up two bulk items such as rugs, mattresses, tires and furniture, per week. The company also will require residents to schedule pickups of large items, such as refrigerators and stoves, and households may only throw out a large item once a month without paying an additional fee, the contract said.
A total of 20 yard-waste bags, containers or bundles can be picked up per week.
“You’re a little bit more limited and structured on how much trash you can get thrown away in a month, but I don’t think it’s going to be that big of a deal,” Flower said.
O’Brien said Meridian Waste is excited about being selected as Eureka’s trash-hauling service provider.
“Our operations team and marketing team are working diligently to have the equipment, routing, billing and customer communication elements finalized and in a uniform manner to be presented to the residential customers in the near future,” she said.
Flower said every resident will be issued new trash cans and recycle bins from Meridian Waste.
“I have talked to the president and the people in charge and expressed to them how much change the residents have had over the last year between when the city was billing everything and now to the Missouri American water billing part and Waste Connections,” he said. “I really expressed to them that I want to try and make this a smooth transition with customer service set up and a lot of communication to make sure people know what’s going on.”
Residents complained earlier this year when Waste Connections began to miss scheduled pickup dates.
Flower said the company credited customers’ accounts for the missed days and service has improved over the last several months.
“I think they had a couple of employee issues,” Flower said. “They had things that were hitting everybody in every industry, whether it was the labor, supply chain (issues), and then they got impacted by some weather.”
