MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Waste Pro has officially been canned by the City of Memphis.
Mayor Jim Strickland announced Sunday, after several months of missed collections, routes that weren't completed, and inadequate employees, it's over.
A Collierville-based company called Team Waste will be taking over services in Cordova, Hickory Hill, and parts of East Memphis starting Monday.
Hickory Hill neighbors, like Mattie Stevison, who are tired of the trash problem are hopeful Team Waste will do a better job than Waste Pro. Stevison said she went weeks with a full garbage can wondering when they would come by and pick it up.
"If you’re taking peoples' money, you gotta do the job," Stevison said.
Stevison was frustrated her neighborhood looked like a dump during the weeks Waste Pro would miss her street.
"You need to know it’s going to get gone, not stay out there," Stevison said. "If it stays out there it’s going to make the neighborhood look bad."
Team Waste said on its website "it's the Mid-South's fastest-growing waste company." Chris Carter, a spokesperson for the company, said they look forward to cleaning up Area E and will resume the normal collection schedule provided to them by the City of Memphis.
"While days of service are not changing, times of service can differ greatly from the previous vendor so please encourage all residents to have their carts out by 7 AM on their normal collection day," Carter said. "We please ask all residents to allow us enough time to get to your home on your service day as our new crews are getting accustomed to these new routes."
Stevison said trash pick-up is an important job, especially with the summer months around the corner. She does not want piles of trash becoming home to pests.
"You want that trash moved because it’s getting hot and it’s going to create, no doubt, rats, snakes, whatever around you know," Stevison said.
Stevison, like some of her other neighbors, wonders why the City has not taken over its own trash service.
"We are residents that live here in the city," Stevison said. "We should have somebody like that in the city that cares more for the city to pick up the trash."
However, she anticipates Team Waste will do a good job as long as the trash is picked up on time.
"I hope everything works out good because we need it," Stevison said.