City Council prepares for GFL to take over as Fort Wayne trash collector

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - Fort Wayne’s new trash collector will take over in less than a month, but will it be ready to go?

City councilman Tom Didier says with less than a month until GFL Environmental takes over trash collection, he’s confident they’ll be ready to go.

“We’re going to ask people to be as patient as they can but we’re really going to focus on the trash over the next few weeks,” Didiers said.

This transfer has been months in the making and got final approval last month. It comes after current trash hauler Red River failed numerous time to pick trash up on time.

“It’s important we get this right and I think we will,” Councilman Geoff Paddock said. “I think GFL knows this will be a big market for them.”

Paddock also says he’s optimistic. However, there’s still work to do before g-f-l takes over on July 1. They still have to fill several open positions. We’re told some Red River employees will make the transition. GFL leaders say they won’t be fully staffed in time for their start date.

“They’re being much pickier in the aspect of how they’re going about it,” Didier said. “They want to make sure that the people they are hiring are going to do the job and do it well.”

Council leaders say they realize day one will not be perfect. However, they say they believe this will be a major upgrade from Red River. Company leaders say your collection dates will stay the same and there will be no changes to recycling.

“I think they’ll be paying attention more to doing this not only efficiently, but also as cleanly as possible,” Paddock said.

As the first day of the GFL era in Fort Wayne gets closer, Didier and Paddock believe this will be a good change for those of you who’ve dealt with missed pickups time after time.

“We’re all working together to make sure over the next 3 weeks to try to make the transition as seamless as possible,” Paddock said.

“GFL Environmental USA Inc. is busy hiring and on-boarding the team members needed to provide Fort Wayne residents with the quality solid waste service they both need and deserve. We have secured the vehicles needed to service all routes throughout the city.

While we are very pleased with our current recruitment results for drivers and loaders, GFL’s ongoing recruitment effort will continue past our start date. As we grow in northeastern Indiana and beyond, our need for top-notch employees will grow as well.”

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