Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.
Andy Pineau loads some of his neighbors’ garbage into his truck in Stafford County recently.
John Seay (left) and his partner Andy Pineau load their truck with their neighbors’ trash in Stafford on Wednesday, Jul. 13, 2022.
Trash bins sit at the end of driveways on Marlborough Point Road in Stafford County.
Scores of Fredericksburg-area residents have turned to social media and local elected officials to vent their frustrations over hit-or-miss trash collection.
“Unless they start picking up when they are supposed to and their customer service improves, I will be contacting the Better Business Bureau,” one local resident wrote about GFL Environmental on an online community forum.
“GFL hit me with an inexplicable $50 charge and I have no idea what it was for,” wrote another. “No idea when my pickup day is either.”
But it’s not just local residents who are concerned with GFL’s trash removal methods. The company—based in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada—bills itself as the “fourth largest diversified environmental services company in North America.” But the company has a rating of a 1.1 (out of 5) on Google reviews, and it has a 1.03 rating on the Better Business Bureau’s national website.
GFL came on the Fredericksburg scene in 2021, when it acquired Waste Management and later County Waste, then Shifflett’s Waste Services. That left GFL, American Hauling Services and Davis Disposal as the three commercial trash companies permitted to dump residential trash at the regional landfill on Eskimo Hill Road.
Most customers learned of GFL’s consolidation when they checked their mailbox last month. GFL sent postcards to customers announcing new pick-up days that would start near the end of June, but the announcement did little to calm the nerves of some area residents who wondered if their mounting piles of trash would ever be picked up.
Hank Thomassen, who lives on Indian Point Road in Stafford, said he accumulated so much trash he was forced to store the overflow in his garage. On July 11, he sent a letter to Rep. Abigail Spanberger and Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, calling the situation in his rural neighborhood “a health disaster waiting to happen.”
“My community has now gone 10 days without trash removal, and I expect two weeks to pass before I receive my trash pick-up,” he wrote in the letter.
Gail Carlson, who serves as president of the Leeland Station homeowners association in southern Stafford, said some residents there haven’t had their trash collected in over two weeks. And she said the 800 homes in Leeland Station that were previously served by Shifflett’s for $15.90 per home, now pay $22.26.
“We’ve had the worst possible service,” Carlson said. “There’s a lot of military wives, stay-at-home moms, babies. Can you imagine the diaper smell?”
Officials in Spotsylvania County are getting their fair share of complaints from residents, too.
“A lot of calls,” said county spokeswoman Michelle McGinnis. “They’re calling us, they’re calling the county, they’re calling board members and complaining.”
Carlson said when Shifflett’s was purchased by GFL, the HOA contacted County Waste, only to find out it had also been purchased by GFL. With no other trash haulers willing to pick up residential waste at 800 homes, Carlson said the HOA felt rushed to enter into a contract with GFL to address the mounting trash in the neighborhood, despite a 40% rate hike over what was previously paid to Shifflett’s.
“We were kind of strong-armed into the contract,” Carlson said. “This is a monopoly and this should have never been allowed to happen.”
A similar situation involving GFL’s customer service is unfolding just west of Springfield, Illinois, according to a report in the Journal–Courier.
On July 12, Jacksonville, Illinois, officials said they were fielding calls from “confused and frustrated” residents after GFL acquired a trash collection company in that region that served three counties. The previous year, GFL bought another trash hauler whose parent company provided waste disposal for Jacksonville, but the buyouts left GFL as the only option for residential and business trash collection in the city.
GFL’s consolidation of trash companies in the Fredericksburg region garnered the attention of Stafford resident Ben Litchfield, who wrote an editorial for The Free Lance–Star last month. In it, Litchfield said GFL’s consolidation of trash haulers in the region “highlights the need for more state funding to protect and preserve competition in the marketplace.”
“Arguably, GFL Environmental’s acquisition of both County Waste and Shifflett’s fits the description of a deal that substantially lessens competition,” Litchfield wrote.
GFL representatives did not respond to attempts to learn when residents can expect improved trash removal service.
The Newnan (Georgia) Times–Herald reported that last week, GFL was put on 30-day notice by city officials who say GFL is in “breach of contract” for failure to provide weekly service to residents. Other allegations against GFL in Newnan include failure to provide monthly tonnage reports of collected garbage, failure to separate recyclables and report recyclable financials to the city, failure to maintain reliable equipment, failure to provide staff to operate equipment, failure to file required reports and failure to follow a schedule that provides a timely trash collection service.
To help Stafford and Fredericksburg residents remove accumulated trash, the Eskimo Hill Road landfill has instituted a gate fee waiver for GFL customers in those two locations that runs through next weekend. For now, other regional landfills have not made similar provisions.
Stafford’s R-Board Director Phil Hathcock said the landfill has received numerous calls from residents with accumulating trash at their homes who say the refuse is starting to attract insects and rodents.
“The waiver is designed to prevent that, help the environment and protect human health,” Hathcock said. “Our motivation to do this was to give the citizens some relief.”
Hathcock said Fredericksburg and Stafford residents who bring a paper GFL invoice or trash containers bearing the Shifflett’s, County Waste or GFL logos, will be permitted to drop household trash at the landfill free of charge until Sunday, July 24 .
“My goal is to help the residents as best I can,” Hathcock said.
But Hathcock said the entry waiver at Eskimo Hill is not a free pass for residents to dispose of broken refrigerators, furniture, mattresses or other large household products.
“It’s for the things GFL wouldn’t pick up on your curbside,” Hathcock said.
Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.
I spent 23 years in the Navy in media relations and as a reporter. Prior to coming to The Free Lance-Star in 2019, I volunteered with a local non-profit that helps formerly incarcerated people transition back into society. I'm also an avid motorcyclist.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Spot the Dalmatian tries hard to be a good puppy, but one beautiful day, it’s just too tempting to set off exploring Spotsylvania County attractions.
A roundup of news and notes pertaining to Fredericksburg-area businesses.
Workers' compensation premiums in Virginia could be headed down, good news for employers in a difficult economy that reflects the impact of the state’s medical fee schedules and less time lost at work.
Concrete manufacturer Unilock will establish a manufacturing campus in Hanover County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on Thursday.
Interested students can now earn both an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in business in just 2 1/2 years, thanks to a new partnersh…
Andy Pineau loads some of his neighbors’ garbage into his truck in Stafford County recently.
John Seay (left) and his partner Andy Pineau load their truck with their neighbors’ trash in Stafford on Wednesday, Jul. 13, 2022.
Trash bins sit at the end of driveways on Marlborough Point Road in Stafford County.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.