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WEST BLOOMFIELD — The lime green trucks picking up refuse in your neighborhood will soon be yellow.
Green For Life Environmental, the waste management company that has contracts with many municipalities in metro Detroit, recently sold the residential trash collecting assets to Priority Waste. News of the sale hit social media before GFL was able to put out its official statement.
“Social media got ahead of the process,” said Matt Allen, Priority Waste’s director of public relations and government affairs.
Residents of these communities will still be able to use their GFL bins. Garbage collection dates will remain the same. The July 4 holiday will still cause a one-day delay of service. Allen said those who are having issues with GFL should continue to contact them until July 1. GFL will retain its commercial contracts.
“This sale encompasses assets and collection operations within Oakland, Washtenaw, Livingston, Macomb, Genesee, and Wayne Counties,” John Addison, GFL General Manager for Wayne, stated in a letter to employees. “It includes the transfer of contracts with 75 municipal customers as well as 70,000 homeowner’s associations and subscription residential customers.”
The change was addressed on West Bloomfield Township’s website.
“We apologize for the abysmal and patently unacceptable service being provided by GFL Environmental, USA,” the site states. “As you may know, GFL’s residential contracts for most of southeast Michigan have been sold to Priority Waste. This change for West Bloomfield Township will be effective July 1, 2024. GFL Environmental has been struggling to keep up with its normal routes owing to a severe shortage of staff members to operate the trucks. We remain hopeful that the service with Priority Waste will be a major improvement, although the first few weeks will entail a learning curve for the new crew.
Thank you for your understanding and patience during this frustrating transition.”
The site also addressed another potential concern some residents may have.
“If you previously paid in full for the entire year with GFL Environmental, your account will be marked paid in full with Priority Waste,” the site states. “If you pay quarterly, please pay the July statement directly to GFL Environmental as you normally would. If you are signed up for auto-pay through GFL, it will automatically cancel after July 1st. If you are signed up for auto-pay through your bank or credit union, please make sure to cancel that auto-pay after the July payment is made. We will be receiving instructions on setting up a new online account with Priority Waste in the next couple of weeks and will share that information as it becomes available. Thank you for your patience during this transition.”
Allen said talks for the acquisition began earlier in 2024. The Detroit transition to Priority Waste from GFL happened earlier in June. In Sterling Heights, the company is about a month into its changeover. According to Allen, the transition in both communities has gone well so far.
Hundreds of GFL employees impacted by the switch will be terminated, though they will be able to reapply for their jobs with Priority Waste.
“Our understanding is that Priority intends to extend offers to the majority of employees, as it will be imperative to maintain continuity of service,” Addison stated in the letter.
Allen said the company is working to make the transition a seamless process so there are no interruptions in service. He said the company has bought approximately 500 pieces of equipment from GFL. This equipment will be assessed by Priority Waste in the coming months.
“We’re going to do an overhaul of their fleet,” Allen said. “It’s a very deliberative process. We’re going to overhaul, rebuild, evaluate each one based on age and hours of running time.”
GFL did not respond to requests for comment at press time.
