By Pepper Fisher

PORT ANGELES – The City of Port Angeles is about to take over the business of collecting yard waste and recycling from its residents, as well as the operating of the Regional Transfer Station on the west side of town. That’s following lengthy negotiations with Waste Connections Inc. to end their contract.

We saw it coming. In the Spring of 2021, the City took action to terminate its contract with Waste Connections after the company sought additional rate increases. But on September 16, in the middle of the arbitration process, we got a call from Matt O’Connell of Olympic Disposal, a division of Waste Management, saying he wanted to announce that they would no longer be picking up customer waste and to put their bins out where they could pick them up.

When our story broke that evening, City officials were caught completely off guard and filed a civil suit to compel the company to resume services until contract negotiations were complete.

Director of Public Works Thomas Hunter says those negotiations have been resolved and they’re excited to move on.

“Boy, we are just excited to take this on. It’s going to be a huge lift, but a really important step in, you know, the City continuing to provide an excellent level of service and, at the same time, protecting ratepayers from potential increases. And not just for the city, but the regional transfer station is responsible for, you know, the transport of materials off of the peninsula for the County, and for Sequim, because that’s where the material goes through.”

Hunter says over the coming weeks City residents will receive new recycle and yard waste containers provided by the City and they’ll notice different trucks picking up their recycle and yard waste.

We asked Hunter if the change is going to require some new hiring.

“It is, and we’ll be releasing information here shortly about that, but the City is going to be hiring some new folks. So you’re going to see some new friendly faces out there in the not too distant future and, you know, keeping these jobs local, and we’re really, really excited about that.”

Watch your mailboxes for more information.