If I’ve learned anything in three decades as an observer of local governments, it’s this: Don’t mess with residents’ garbage service.

More precisely, don’t mess up garbage pickups. People really, really, really don’t like it when their trash doesn’t get hauled off.

And since FCC Environmental took over garbage collection in Buncombe County at the start of the year, it’s had a lot of problems. I know the county has heard a lot of the complaints, and so have I.

Here’s a taste of what’s hit my inbox:

“Can you find what is going on with FCC Environmental?” Leicester resident Tom Leonard wrote. “They are missing my pickup, and when I call to complain I get a help center in Colorado and all they can do is take my information and pass the ticket along. I also filed a complaint with the county on their website. They missed me completely last week, and just got the trash this week. To make matters worse, WastePro didn’t pick up my recycling at the end of December, so I have over five weeks of recycling piling up here. I just got off the phone again and got the same call center in Colorado. Can you find out what is going on there, and if they even have a plan to clean up this mess they created? There are 38 homes in the development I live in (I’m in Leicester) and we all have overflowing bins sitting by the road … waiting.”

County resident Chip Boyd was even more blunt:

“You may already be on this one, but the new waste collection contractor for Buncombe County has started out by falling flat on their face. If you look at social media like nextdoor.com and Facebook, you’ll see hundreds and hundreds of people whose trash has not been collected for weeks. The county government is not responsive, FCC’s phone lines are either closed or have a 30-minute plus wait time, and emails go unanswered. I, for example, have not had a single pickup since they took over. Of course, one expects there to be some birthing pains as a new contractor takes over, but this looks to be much, much worse. Personally, I just finished hauling a month’s worth of trash and garbage in my SUV to dispose of it, so you can imagine that my attitude about this is not very positive.”

No, I imagine not.

FCC responds: ‘It’s just hard to avoid, no matter how hard you prepare’

I reached out to Charles Merkley, vice president of business development with FCC, and he told me Thursday the company is well aware of the complaints and has worked to knock them down and add personnel and equipment.

“I think the important thing is we’re here to partner with Buncombe County and the residents, and we’re doing everything we can to be able to provide them the service that they’re paying for, that they request,” Merkley said. “That’s always our mission. Always.”

He acknowledged that early in the transition FCC had received about 400 complaints. A 45-year veteran of the waste disposal industry, Merkley said all transitions into a new market come with hiccups.

“It’s just hard to avoid, no matter how hard you prepare,” Merkley said, noting that FCC did do dry runs throughout the community before taking over. “But once you actually get live and go in there, there is always something. New equipment — brand new carts we buy, they break, unfortunately.”

FCC has 43 employees in Buncombe County, including 32 drivers. The company has 32 trucks working the county, with eight additional trucks in support roles.

Asked if FCC hired former workers from Waste Pro, which previously held the garbage contract for the county, Merkley said, “Not many.”

“But we did get a lot of local, experienced people that may have worked in the industry previously,” Merkley said. “Our general manager is very, very local and very familiar with Buncombe County and the collection routing. He’s worked with other companies doing that.”

One issue has been the mountain terrain and in some cases narrow, steep roads that require specialty vehicles or four-wheel-drive trucks.

“We’ve added additional pieces of equipment over and above the scheduled routes that are scheduled, and that’s eight to 10 pieces of equipment, along with drivers,” Merkley said. “They’re coming from all over the country that are part of our startup teams.”

Some of these veteran drivers are mentoring newer FCC workers, or in some cases driving the vehicles and teaching employees the nuances of the equipment, Merkley said. 

Merkley said FCC typically handles complaint calls locally but was overloaded early on. 

FCC has a half-dozen people in Buncombe to handle phone calls, and the first backup for that is another center in Houston,  where FCC is headquartered. Calls go to those two places first, then to Colorado, which is FCC’s “external, global call center.”

“And unfortunately, they’re trained as best they can be, but they don’t always know specific answers, and that’s why we like to do it local,” Merkley said. “And we feel very strongly that as of now, and even by towards the end of the month, that all the external calls won’t be necessary.”

By the way, Leonard emailed me Friday to say FCC made it out to his neighborhood, Newfound Estates, the day before.

“They came and got the recycling for the whole subdivision,” Leonard told me via email. “I don’t think they would have gotten it if they didn’t hear from you. Now if they pick us up on Monday, that will clear out all that I had piled up here from the last five weeks.”

Fingers crossed, Tom.

Buncombe: ‘Our community has already endured enough challenges’

Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder addressed the FCC issues at the Jan. 22 community briefing.

“We know the delays and missed pickups have been incredibly frustrating,” Pinder said. “Our community has already endured enough challenges.”

To be fair, FCC got knocked back a day last week because of icy conditions Monday, so it was finishing up pickups on Saturday instead of Friday. But Pinder acknowledged the other customer complaints.

“We have set an action plan for FCC, and our expectations are for them to maintain a 98 percent collection rate beginning Feb. 1,” Pinder said. “They have agreed to this, and they are continuing to increase staffing and resources to get the job done that we’ve hired them to do.”

I’m glad that FCC is knocking down the complaints, because Buncombe has a history of poor garbage collection service. If you’ve been here since 2010 or thereabouts and live in the unincorporated parts of Buncombe County, you probably have not-so-fond memories of Waste Pro’s startup here, and its collection woes that continued sporadically for years.

In June 2015 I wrote an article for the Citizen Times with the headline, “Buncombe trash contract to be rebid after Waste Pro issue.” The county was miffed about collection issues resulting in a deluge of complaints, “problems mostly driven by too few workers and equipment problems,” I wrote.

Back then, former Waste Pro spokesman Ron Pecora said the company was getting back on track after adding workers. This will sound familiar:

“We are doing everything we said we would and more in terms of people and equipment,” Pecora said in 2015. “Calls are dramatically down and we are caught up. We have made our promises and commitments, which will become obvious rather than (talking) about what we will do.”

The county and Waste Pro worked out their differences, and the contract continued through the end of last year. Buncombe chose FCC in part because the company’s rates were slightly lower than Waste Pro’s proposal.

Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Chair Amanda Edwards told me the FCC topic is definitely on her radar — and poor service is unacceptable.

“We are working very closely with our solid waste team to get each and every one of these (complaints) addressed, and we do expect better service and better customer service for the residents of Buncombe County,” Edwards said.

I told her that some folks are really riled up, especially those with trash sitting in front of their homes for weeks.

“And that’s fair,” Edwards said. “Nobody wants that sitting outside their home or their neighborhoods.”

She told me that for any FCC-related email that comes to all of the commissioners, the board’s clerk is on the case.

“She is working with the Solid Waste team to address each and every one of them,” Edwards said. “The ones that have come to me directly, I have responded to every single one of them to date, and have responded directly, and have also shared those with the Solid Waste team, who then follows up.”

She said she’s actually had some residents reach back out and thank her for responding, noting they’d heard from the Solid Waste department. 

For all county residents, I’m hoping FCC has a handle on the demands of our local area, and that the service smooths out.

Meanwhile, I await your emails.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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