TRASH WARS: THEY AIN’T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART​

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Trash Wars: They Ain't for the faint of heart

We’ve all had at least one of ‘em – Mine was playing high school lacrosse (I definitely was not big enough for football or fast enough for soccer. It also helped that I just flat out love to play lacrosse). 

 

A call didn’t go our way going into the end of the game against our rivals, Mt. Paran. A guy on the other team took a swing at one of our (superstar) freshman and the refs either didn’t see it or didn’t call it. It stung, and made us mad – we hopped on the field, led by that freshman’s older brother, ready to fight. We didn’t get the call and we lost the game. Our team had two options coming out of the smelly, undersized lockers they provided for us visitors that day: 

 

  1. Feel sorry for ourselves and say we should have won. 
  2. Pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get ready to whip em the next time they came around. 

 

It was a quiet bus ride home as the younger guys on the team (I was the only senior) made up their minds as to what they were going to do. 

 

I was curious just how it went the next four years, so I looked it up. In the next four years we played them, we beat Mount Paran every time, by a combined score of 64-20 (that’s equivalent to four blowout victories of 16-5). 

 

Suffice it to say, the guys chose option 2. 

 

The Bad News:

Great story, trash marketing guy, but what does this have to do with Adams Sanitation?

 

As you know our friends at Waste Pro sued us recently and today they won a temporary injunction that prohibits us from servicing the south end of Santa Rosa County until all the legal wrangling is concluded.  

 

This doesn’t mean the fight is over, though. 

 

The judge refused Waste Pro’s request to stop us from advertising or marketing to the residents in the south end, and he made it clear that he wasn’t drawing any conclusions on the ultimate facts of the case.  

 

He just believes that the County needs to issue a permit for us to operate before that can happen and we have to complete the process of forcing the County to face-up to the fact that the Waste Pro contract was improperly awarded for that to happen.

 

Now the Good News:

Today’s ruling made really clear to us that this is going to be a tough fight, but the nearly three-hour long hearing revealed that the ground supporting up the Santa Rosa -Waste Pro deal is every bit as shaky as we thought it was, maybe more so. 

So, what does this mean for customers in the South End of Santa Rosa County?

 

You will be forced, once again, to use Waste Pro as your trash hauler with once weekly service. We will finish out your twice weekly service this week. And Waste Pro will recommence providing you service once a week next week on your regular Waste Pro service day.

 

Please hold on to your Adams trash cart If you can stick with us as we work through the legal process, we would be grateful. We will credit your account for half a month’s service for October. If you can’t, we do understand and we will refund you your money, including your cart deposit and delivery fee as well as half of your October monthly payment. Just email Info@AdamsSanitation.com to make the request.

 

 

What is Adams Sanitation Going to Do to Make it Right

 

  1. We’re not done fighting for you. This isn’t over by a long shot, and we’ve budgeted the lawyerin’ money to take this to the end. We started this fight because we truly believe that even if you don’t take our service, you are entitled as an American to a free market system and to a local government that follows its own rules and acts in the best interest of tax payers.
  2. We are going to refund you your money for half of the October service  that you will not receive– It’s the right thing to do, and we’re interested in doing the right thing (see point 1)
  3. North County Residents – We are offering you a chance to take in refugee carts from the south end by starting service with us. As part of our commitment to continue this fight – We are waiving the security deposit (a $25 value) for you, should you decide to sign up with us in the month of October, just use the code #FreeSSR when you sign-up on our website 

 

Christopher Saul is the Chief Marketing Officer for Adams Sanitation. When he isn’t slinging hot garbage from the keyboard – he is spending time with his family. He also likes to watch his SMU Mustangs play football and basketball. 

We Took A Trash Truck to A Daycare

https://adamssanitation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Automatic.mp4 Not every day you get to visit a daycare with a trash truck.  Our Customer Service Manager, Nat Mize, gave a short presentation to a group of three and four year olds at the Early Learning Coalition in Gulf Breeze in March. (She’s been talking about it for the better part of two weeks – she was just as excited as the kiddos she talked to about recycling and landfills!)   These kids were prepared. Like super prepared. When we (Facebook guy Christopher went to take photos and video) showed up – the kids had created a cardboard recycling truck with our logo on the side – complete with wheels and everything!    Nat talked to the kids about the importance of reducing the materials we use when we can, re-using and repurposing the other things we use, and recycling what we can.    We even got to take them on a virtual drone tour of the Santa Rosa County landfill in East Milton!    The kids learned about how much trash we make on a daily basis (about ten pounds per person!) and how we get it to the landfill!   The kids listen while Adams Sanitation Customer Service Manager Nat Mize teaches them about recycling and landfills. The kids of Mrs. Bri’s class smile in front of a Adams Sanitation Baby Garbage Truck! Trash Q and A The kids then asked questions about all sorts of things – they were pretty curious about the trash world! Here’s just a little sample of what they asked: Do trash workers get used to the smell? Yes, they do. There are some people who try the job and realize it is a dealbreaker (it does smell bad, after all) – but most of the trash truck drivers and their helpers (called jumpers) get used to the smell after a couple of days.  Did you always want to work at a trash company? The short answer is no! Most of the members of the Adams Sanitaiton team are in the trash industry as their second or even third industry! But that diverse experiential background means we have really good ideas and opinions on making the industry even better! Where does the trash go? Our trash in Santa Rosa County goes to the Santa Rosa County Lanfill 99.99% of the time. Every once in a while – trash from Adams Sanitation ends up at the Baker Transfer station next door in Okaloosa County.  What should the French National Government do about the waste workers strike that’s taken place for more than a week now? We’re kidding, they didn’t ask that one. Honestly, we’d be in a pinch if they did!  Do you pick up the trash and recycling together? A lot of adults ask us this one, too! We do not pick up the trash and recycling together. Furthermore, our recycling goes to the recycling sorting station in northern Escambia County.    After that – we took the kids out for the best part – seeing an actual (mini) trash truck (that we cleaned thoroughly)!  The kids response was great! They loved the trash truck, listened well and had a good time learning about what we do! We had a great time and hope they did, too!   Nat goes for a ride in Adams Sanitation’s newest trash truck – supplied by the kids at the Early Learning Coalition

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Dump Fees Are Up – Here’s What That Means For Your Trash Bill

Dump Fees Are Up – Here’s What That Means For Your Trash Bill Bottom line up front: Santa Rosa County has voted to increase the cost of dumping trash at the county landfill, which will result in a slight increase in trash service costs. However, Adams Sanitation will not raise rates until their annual increase next year, and the Santa Rosa County landfill is still significantly less expensive than neighboring counties. The increase will cost Adams Sanitation approximately $6,000 per month, but they plan to absorb the cost this year without raising customer rates. Santa Rosa County’s commissioners took a 3-1 vote to raise the cost of dumping trash at the county landfill in February, which means we will all have to end up paying a little bit more to get trash service or to run a trash business.  But there are some critical takeaways from the decision we want you to know about: 🙅 Adams Sanitation will NOT raise your trash rates over this until our annual increase subsequent January 💰It will cost us about $6,000 per month MORE to dump trash every month 💵 The Santa Rosa County Landfill is still significantly LESS EXPENSIVE than taking trash to our disposal facilities in neighboring counties.  🗣️ Tell your friends and neighbors about our excellent service! The more people who sign up with us, the more we can spread costs and keep your rates down! A sky view above the Santa Rosa County Landfill in East Milton. No rate increase right now for Adams Sanitation Customers. Last year, we had to raise rates mid-year due to a doubling of diesel costs. At the same time, this increase in dump fees is not put-us-out-of-business-if-we-don’t-raise-rates bad. We are going to absorb the costs this year. Our team has already had several meetings to determine how we will do that, but it’s been made clear it won’t be through raising your monthly rate.  The total cost for this increase is about 50 cents per customer and household per month and may impact our rate calculator next year. What this costs us The good news is that we can absorb the cost of the increased dump fees for the year. The bad news is that the increased cost will work out to about $50,000 this year alone – a lot of money for a small business like ours to absorb. The Santa Rosa County landfill is significantly less expensive than everyone else’s When we heard we were about to receive a bill of an extra $50,000 from the county, we did what any other red-blooded American would do when faced with a stressful situation – we shopped and price compared.  Believe me when I tell you, despite the price increase, we still have it pretty good in Santa Rosa County. Over in Okaloosa County, the cost to dump the same ton of trash is $75. To take our trash over there, we’d need to charge about an additional $6 per month plus the cost of diesel and labor. That stuff adds up quickly – and we’d soon be forced to charge exorbitant rates just to come and get your trash.  To the west, the Perdido Landfill charges $45.06 per ton, currently $3.00 more per ton than in Santa Rosa County – only six months more. But once you add in the $52 for diesel and $50+ for labor costs, you’re looking at another pretty steep price hike for the same service.  While we’re not thrilled about losing money to this price increase, it could be a lot worse – so, a little bit of a silver lining there. What can be done to keep costs down? The good news is that some factors are keeping our costs down this year! Diesel prices have dropped some as we have matured as a business.  We have been able to keep people around longer term at Adams Sanitation – which means we are running more efficiently. Our labor costs have dropped a bit because we are not constantly looking for new employees, burning them out with overtime, or paying more for overtime work (yay!).  We are also growing! More and more people are signing up daily to get the best trash service in town! That means we can increase our routes’ density- making us more efficient. The more efficient we are, the lower we can keep our prices while still paying decent wages for a (very) hard day of work and making a fair profit.  We still need help, though. If you feel that we’ve earned it – tell your friends, coworkers, neighbors, and family about the high level of service you get from Adams Sanitation. The more people we get to serve, the better off our customers, our local employees, and our small business!

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8 Comments

  • Tor Eystad

    You long story didn’t specify who you are saying is “South Santa Rosa County!” Please just clarify that.

  • Catherine Bailey

    Am I north or sout Pace? I had also sent a message about a large amount of cardboard which you responded requesting a photo. No photo but it looks to be 3 or 4 pallet spaces 4x4x4. I have just been saving for you because I’d like to stay with Adams.
    Thank you
    Catherine
    505 916-6069
    5896 Jameson Cir
    Pace FL. 32571

  • Norma Smith

    We love having you for servicing us twice a week. Do hope things work out in your favor. Will be praying for you.

  • Kim Williamson

    I will start service with you in South end of Santa Rosa when you get back. Good luck. Waste Pro is terrible.

  • Paul Tarnuzzer

    I am going to stick with you and appreciate the refund for half of October, let’s just hope this doesn’t drag on past that point.

    As a Citizen and a property owner in Holley by the Sea, what right does the BOCC have to tell me who I can and can’t spend my money on, and how can they legally prevent a company from doing business in a neighborhood that clearly needs their services?

    To my knowledge, this “Waste Collection Monopoly” issue has never been put to a vote before the property owners of Holley by the Sea? Do we not have a say in who we can and can’t do business with? There are hundreds of trucks in our neighborhood everyday, and I’ve never heard of any other company that has been denied the opportunity to provide services to this neighborhood! Well, aside from the monopoly MediaCom has on this neighborhood, but that’s the next rip-off monopoly that needs to end!

    My biggest concern is my trash pick-up until this is resolved. My pick-up days are Wednesday and Saturday, so will it be picked up this week? If so, both days or just Wednesday?

    My Waste Pro service was cancelled the day the last billing cycle ended. I owe them nothing and they owe me nothing. So, how am I supposed to get my trash collected until this is resolved? Waste Pro bills on a quarterly cycle, I don’t want to pay them for 3 months worth of service when it hopefully will take far less time than that to favorably resolve this.

    Thank you for your time, and I hope to receive a reply soon.

  • David Jordan

    @Sandra Fogg

    There is one city in south Santa Rosa County, The City of Gulf Breeze. There is one city in north Santa Rosa County, the City of Milton. There is one town in north Santa Rosa County, the town of Jay.

    All the rest are communities.

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