Reno City Council members on Wednesday voted to file a notice of termination with Waste Management, the city’s franchised trash disposal company. The agreement with the company will continue through the remainder of the current contract, which ends Nov. 7, 2029.
A five-year notice is required if either party wishes to terminate the agreement.
According to the city’s Sustainability Manager Suzanne Groneman, a periodic review of the contract with Waste Management will take place in July 2025, and the renegotiation of terms or a request for proposals (RFP) for a new contractor will occur in 2027 or 2028, respectively.
With the notice of termination, the city will need to renegotiate the terms of the agreements, or put forth a new RFP and secure new agreements for collection and disposal services before the current contract ends.
Council member Jenny Brekhus said the existing franchise agreement with Waste Management was negotiated a week before she and Mayor Hillary Schieve took office in 2012 by a mayor and council members with “lame duck status.”
Before this, she said, there had been several competitors in the area, and people had a choice.
“There was no franchise, and this gave Waste Management franchise to the commercial, in addition to the residential, and it was a very big change,” Brekhus said. “I want to let my colleagues know that the first year when it went into effect, there was no issue I spent more time on than Waste Management in that rollout. I know we have a great relationship [with Waste Management], but there needs to be a really good understanding of how it’s been working. We’ve had a lot of turnover. I don’t think there’s one person from a policy perspective who worked on the old agreement.”
Brekhus said the city needs to have the ability to make sure Waste Management costs are fair to residents. She said she was also caught off-guard when a developer earlier in the meeting mentioned that the local apartment association had a class action lawsuit against the company.
“I think they’ve been a good partner, but we need to argue from a position of strength, and that position of strength is saying right now, we’re gonna terminate and we’re gonna bring staff back up within a month or so to outline a process to understand how we want to go forward in releasing the RFP, or we could still re-up the agreement,” she said. “This is a housing cost. Please remember this is a housing cost.”
Council member Meghan Ebert said she has received many calls and emails from her constituents about the level of service they’ve received from Waste Management, and she would like to look at other options.
“I don’t think that necessarily we’ll go with someone else, but I think we should hear from other options and negotiate better services for our constituents,” she said.
Ebert said one frequent complaint is that residents can’t get anyone on the phone when they have issues.
“I don’t think these are unsolvable problems, but I think that we should not just ask Waste Management but maybe look for other solutions, too,” she said.
Council member Devon Reese said it’s important to hear from the different viewpoints of his colleagues because what often happens is people will have a different experience based on what part of town they’re in.
“I see Waste Management as a good and capable partner,” Reese said. “I look at them not just here, but nationally as an organization, and see them leading on helping reduce the environmental costs and related sustainability efforts across the country.”
Reese said there has been a lot of consolidation of waste management businesses across the country, and there aren’t many operators left.
“There certainly are not other ones that are coming to Reno, Nevada,” Reese said. “So this idea that somehow we’re gonna abandon the franchise I think is not likely to happen.”
However, Reese said he doesn’t like contracts that continuously roll over, either. “All franchises should have a continuous review.”
Reese said he supports the termination motion, not because he thinks the city will stop working with Waste Management, but because the contract requires so much advance notice.
Duerr said she similarly had heard from her constituents that no one can get ahold of anyone from the company when they have issues or complaints.
“Something you and I discussed years ago, Madam Mayor, was a third-party complaint system,” Duerr said. “The biggest issue is being able to independently verify what the issues are from the customers. Waste Management convinced us ‘No, the one we have in place is good enough, this will add cost.’ But maybe the cost was worth it, because we still do not have a way to independently verify what is going on.”
Duerr further said that the company is headquartered in Arizona, and she believes there needs to be someone in-state to deal with customer complaints.
Schieve said she too has heard complaints from the commercial side of things, and this is a good opportunity to discuss issues with the company.
Brekhus recommended hiring a consultant to negotiate the contracts with Waste Management to “understand the refuse environment,” including someone who knows about recycling, as there was a high contamination rate when recycling was first rolled out.
Council members unanimously approved the notice to terminate the contract. A contract review will take place next year.
