The Problem WIth Milwaukee's Commercial Recycling Collection

The problem with recycling in Milwaukee is there is not enough competition. Insufficient competition among waste collectors carries with it high prices and long unbreakable contracts. Much like your cellular phone contract, waste hauling contracts have a three year minimum service requirement. These types of mandatory agreements make it difficult for consumers to voluntarily change providers. Even if they deem the service unreliable or unsatisfactory they are still bound by the economic constraints of the original contract. Veolia’s hauling agreement, for example, automatically renews itself every three years without client consent; it also requires a 60 day notice for termination. So if a business wants to change services from a behemoth company like Waste Management to a local rubbish collector, it must wait out the contract and also provide sufficient notice of termination before the thirty forth month of the endless thirty six month contract. The argument could be made that a contract is a contract, plain and simple. Each party knowingly enters into the agreement, each party signs the agreement, and each party must abide by its original terms. This is not in contention. What’s in contention here however, is the lengthy, onerous, three year contract, provided not only by the waste industry but also in the telecommunications industry; where a handful of large corporations tacitly control costs, contract lengths and in general, consumer behavior by failing to provide reasonable options for consumers to choose. Even though in theory there are three choices for Waste Management in Bay View, there is practically speaking ,only one.