City of Westland withholding $100K from Priority Waste over trash pickup delays

Frustration is growing in Westland, Michigan, as residents report missed and delayed trash pickups across the city. Some say the problem has dragged on for weeks.

"They'll leave it sitting out there for two or three weeks," said resident Kirstin Perkins, who says trash sitting in the summer heat has become a major concern.

Perkins says the inconsistency has made things worse.

"It's very inconsistent. Sometimes they're here at 10 o'clock, and sometimes they're here at 3 (p.m.). They dumped my neighbor's trash out in the street and just left it there," she said. "We had to hose it off after about two weeks because the flies were so bad."

City leaders say they're aware of the issues and have been trying to fix them for months.

Westland Mayor Kevin Coleman says the city has worked extensively with its waste collection provider, Priority Waste, to address ongoing service problems. Officials say they remained in constant communication with the company and gave them opportunities to correct the issues before taking further action.

Despite those efforts, residents continued to report missed pickups, delayed collections and other service disruptions.

Now, the city is taking formal action. After reviewing service performance and contract requirements, Westland is withholding $100,000 from a future payment to Priority Waste, citing repeated service failures.

Coleman says the move is about accountability and ensuring residents get the service they pay for.

"I think that's great, because if they're not doing their job, they shouldn't be getting paid," resident Alessandra Marques said.

Trash pickup in Westland is scheduled weekly, while recycling is collected every other week. Residents say when recycling is missed, it can take weeks to recover.

"One day they came and picked up one side of the street and not the other, so then you have to wait another two weeks before they come back," said Marques.

The city says it will continue monitoring Priority Waste's performance and is evaluating additional options if service does not improve.  Residents who experience missed pickups are encouraged to report them to City Hall.

CBS News Detroit has reached out to Priority Waste, which sent the following statement:

We are acutely aware of the frustration that service delays have caused for residents, communities, and customers. Missed collections and delayed service are disruptive, and we take that responsibility seriously. We are working hard to ensure that all communities receive current on trash, recycling, compost, and yard waste collection imminently.

Importantly, we are all-hands-on-deck across the organization as our senior leadership, operations teams, customer care teams, maintenance personnel, and field employees are solely focused on restoring service reliability. We continue to strengthen our fleet, rebuild operational capacity, ensure a seamless leadership transition leadership. We are also receiving new collection vehicles daily as part of our ongoing fleet stabilization efforts, which is strengthening our ability to improve route reliability and operational consistency.

We appreciate the patience, understanding, and partnership from the communities we serve and continue making the operational improvements necessary to deliver the level of service residents expect and deserve.