After what city councilors described as a year’s worth of delays in trash pickup across Peabody, Mayor Ted Bettencourt announced Wednesday that Republic Trash Services, the company responsible for collecting the city’s waste, has reached an agreement to dump trash at a landfill in Danvers that Bettencourt said will cut down on the number of delays.
In a brief statement, Bettencourt said Republic trucks had previously been forced to travel to Haverhill to dispose of trash, which caused numerous issues as a result of the long drive to the Merrimack Valley and delays at the Haverhill facility. As a result, trucks could not get to and from Peabody in a timely manner.
“Trash and recycling delays have been far too common across the city in recent months,” Bettencourt said in the statement. “I have heard from many residents who are understandably upset about the delays and I understand and share their frustration.”
Danvers’ proximity to Peabody — they were once the same municipality — should “allow (Republic) ample time to finish their daily pickup routes,” Bettencourt said.
The change in venue will not come with an extra cost for the city or its residents.
While Bettencourt noted that bad weather and other “unexpected circumstances” may still cause delays, he said he was confident service would improve as soon as this week.
Councilor-at-Large Tom Rossignol slammed the company during a December meeting of the City Council, saying representatives from Republic needed to “come before us and explain how their inept business practice is causing our city and our residents issues.”
Republic became Peabody’s waste-services provider in 2022 when it purchased JRM Hauling and Recycling Inc.
Rossignol said he sought to give Republic the benefit of the doubt when it took over, but the quality of service deteriorated.
“It hasn’t gotten better, it’s only gotten worse,” he said. “As we basically hear on a weekly basis, we get a robocall saying one ward or another isn’t getting either their recycling picked up, their trash not picked up, or their leaves not picked up.”
“Every single one of us has been frustrated with this,” Rossignol added.
