Waste Management Wins Back Oakland Garbage Contract, Will Split Franchise With California Waste Solutions

East Bay Express

Waste Management, the Texas-based corporation that sued the City of Oakland after losing out on the city's lucrative waste contract this summer, has won back trash services, ending a long and messy fight for the $1 billion franchise. The City Council last night approved a compromise deal that would allow Waste Management to continue doing trash pickups in the city, while California Waste Solutions (CWS), a West Oakland-based firm, will take over all of the city's recycling. As part of the proposed deal, which Mayor Jean Quan first announced last Thursday, Waste Management has also agreed to drop its lawsuit and cover the city's associated legal fees. 

The compromise comes nearly two months after the City Council unanimously rejected Waste Management and awarded the entire franchise to CWS, the local company that currently does half of the city's recycling, but has never taken on a residential garbage contract before. Waste Management — which currently does the other half of the city's recycling and all of the city's trash pickups — argued that CWS would not be prepared to do the job by July 2015 when the new contract begins. And the city's own analysis of the two plans said that CWS was a much riskier choice. 

Still, the council favored CWS at the end of July, in large part because the firm offered significantly cheaper rates than Waste Management and was a locally grown company. But the fight for the ten-year franchise did not end there. Waste Management subsequently filed a suit against the city, arguing that the city abandoned its procurement process and allowed CWS to submit a last-minute proposal after the firm had already seen Waste Management's confidential information.

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