Waste Pickup Issues Continue In Reading

READING, MA — Trash and recycling pickup delays in Reading continued to mount this week, according to town officials.

Republic Services, which serves as Reading’s contracted trash hauler, is regularly in touch with town officials, according to the town of Reading.

The backlog is large, though, prompting lingering frustration into another weekend of major trash hauling woes.

“We share your frustration with this situation,” town officials said in a statement on Friday. “Thank you for your patience.”

Reading had been served by JRM Hauling and Recycling before the Arizona-based Republic bought JRM earlier this year. The deal closed over the summer. But elements of the transition did not take effect until recently, prompting issues that a Republic spokesperson acknowledged in a statement to Patch earlier this week.

“During this time of transition, Republic Services of Northern Massachusetts has experienced some service delays,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson did not go into detail on what prompted the delays.

Reading officials this past Sunday, though, said the issue stemmed in part from Republic relocating some operations from a previous JRM site in Peabody to a new site in Tyngsboro.

READ: Reading Faces Unexpected Waste Collection Delays

Republic’s spokesperson said on Monday that the company was “working diligently to get back on schedule this week.”

By Friday, Reading officials said issues had not been resolved, with 100 new requests for service coming in just one day.

The town, officials said, has been aggregating information on areas in town with missed waste pickups and sharing that information with Republic “every few hours.”

Residents can report issues with waste pickups via Reading’s SEE CLICK FIX tool here.

While Republic has seen broader issues in other communities north of Boston in recent weeks, including Lawrence, its problems with trash pickup have not been ubiquitous.

In Melrose, which also transitioned to Republic Services with the company’s JRM purchase, Department of Public Works Deputy Director James Troup said on Tuesday that local delays have been minimal compared to issues in Reading.

He said Republic officials have informed city counterparts when they’re expecting possible service delays. In each case, Troup said, crews have been able to catch up with any missed collections later in a given service week.

“Although we continue to deal with individual customer service issues, we have not experienced the same level of delays as other communities, whether they are serviced by JRM/Republic or any other solid waste and recycling hauler,” Troup said.

Patch has reached out to Republic Services for any updates on the current situation in Reading.