Waste Haulers Continue To Protest, Is Waste Management Listening?

ST. CROIX — Waste Haulers on St. Croix, now burdened by tipping fees that took effect on Tuesday, continue to protest the fees’ implementation, contending that their businesses will be adversely affected, some even to the point of closure. Above, James Bates of Bates Trucking.

The haulers gathered at the Waste Management Authority offices in Williams Delight near the Sunshine Mall on Tuesday, and spoke with media houses about the situation. They had relayed to the public the very same frustrations only days before on Friday at the Senate building in Frederiksted.

On Tuesday their stance remained the same. They feared they had become tax collectors, as Waste Management has encumbered them with the job of collecting the tipping fees from customers, with the new charges ranging from zero to over a thousand dollars for on bin. The new structure sees waste haulers charging customers an average of $52 per ton. At that price, a 22-ton bin would run a customer $1,144, and that’s just for Waste Management’s tipping fees; not the waste hauler’s own charge.

“We’re here struggling for our businesses’ survival today,” said Lloyd Daniel of Dan’s Trucking on Tuesday. “The Waste Management Authority fees are not going to allow us to operate as we have done in the past. It’s going to be an impact on us, and it’s also going to be an impact on the community at large.”

A brief meeting was held with the haulers at the Williams Delight facility on Tuesday, led by Tawana Nicholas, W.M.A.’s director of engineering. But the meeting quickly disintegrated after W.M.A. refused to delay the tipping fees’ implementation. Ms. Nicholas said the authority would return the Public Services Commission to recommend a territory-wide flat rate, but a meeting date had not been set.

Ms. Nicholas promised another meeting with the haulers this week, although a solid date was not pinned. In the meantime, the fees will remain in place, and so too will the Waste Haulers’ — among them Bates Trucking, Just Right Trucking, Atlantic Trucking, VI regulated Waste Management, Paradise Waste, Dan’s Trucking and Marco Trucking — decision to not collect waste from residents with jobs requiring bins, as well as business entities, until the dispute is resolved.