Employees of IV Waste puck up the trash in the Chateau Estates neighborhood in Kenner, La. Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Employees of IV Waste puck up the trash in the Chateau Estates neighborhood in Kenner, La. Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate) Highway Crane Trucks
Employees of IV Waste puck up the trash in the Chateau Estates neighborhood in Kenner, La. Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
The city of Kenner has announced new rules for garbage collection this year.
Beginning in 2023, Kenner’s drop-off site for residential waste will only be open on weekends, and curbside collection of bulky debris requiring a boom truck will occur only on Wednesdays.
The changes come amid an ongoing dispute between Kenner and its trash hauler, IV Waste, over contractual language and unpaid invoices.
Kenner Mayor Michael Glaser's administration met with officials from IV Waste on Tuesday to iron out the new rules, which were announced Wednesday afternoon on the city's Facebook page.
Kenner and IV Waste have been at odds over the operation of a drop-off site, located at 1803 23rd Street, where residents and small businesses can dispose of waste.
The city's contract with IV Waste doesn't stipulate how many days per week the site needs to be open. In November, IV Waste's owner Sidney Torres IV briefly shut the site down, after he said the city "shortchanged" him on payments.
Employees of IV Waste puck up the trash in the Chateau Estates neighborhood in Kenner, La. Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
The drop-off site will now be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 3pm. It's free to residents. A driver's license with a Kenner address is all that is needed.
IV Waste will also limit curbside collection of bulky debris requiring a boom truck to Wednesdays. The items cannot exceed six feet in length or weigh more than 400 pounds.
The trash hauler's contract only requires it to run a boom truck for bulky waste once a week. However, Kenner opted to expand that service to multiple times a week amid the coronavirus pandemic, and continued to lean on IV Waste in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Torres said.
"We had to reel it back in and get back to normal," Glaser said.
Torres said that Kenner owes his firm more than $2 million for work performed over the last two and a half years.
Glaser said the billing has had "no rhyme or reason."
Still, Torres said he thinks they're "headed in the right direction," adding that his firm is in "open dialogue" with Kenner officials.
As it stands, IV Waste is losing money in Kenner, Torres said. The trash hauler plans to send a proposal to Kenner officials in the coming weeks detailing what it would take to continue providing their services.
Kenner households pay among the lowest rates in the region for twice-a-week garbage pick-up, at about $13 per month.
Torres is optimistic that a settlement can be reached without having to turn to litigation.
"We just don't want to disrupt the service while we're going through our differences of opinion on these invoices," Glaser said. "Nobody wins if garbage is stacked up around the city."
The city of Kenner is at odds with its garbage hauler, IV Waste, over roughly $1.7 million in invoices covering work performed over the last t…
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Email Blake Paterson at bpaterson@theadvocate.com and follow him on Twitter @blakepater
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