Rizzo new WB trash collector; service to stay the same

The West Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees voted Monday, Oct. 15 to approve the reassignment of the township’s waste hauling contract with Rizzo Environmental Services, a move prompted by news that Rizzo bought out the assets of the township’s current waste hauler, Richfield Equities, after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Under the reassignment, all of the terms and conditions of the original contract between Richfield and the township will be honored through its expiration in 2014.

“Under our contract, if Richfield had been bought out, the township could have rescinded (it),” Township Trustee Steve Kaplan said. “But we allowed Rizzo to take over. Rizzo is a larger company with more trucks and employees.”

Kaplan added that there will be no changes in the township’s current waste collection schedule, fees, or household hazardous waste days; and that the transition to Rizzo would take place around the second week in November.

The vote was 5-0 as township Supervisor Michele Economou Ureste was absent from the meeting. Trustee Larry Brown said that he was present at the meeting, but not during the vote as he was tending to a private matter.

Clerk Cathy Shaughnessy was in charge at Monday’s meeting.

The board previously voted on Nov. 16, 2009 to select Richfield, based out of Flint, to be the township’s mandatory single waste hauler.

The township had previously offered a voluntary, preferred hauler system to residents, giving them a chance to select their own hauler, but township officials cited deficiencies in the system, including high truck traffic and multiple haulers impacting neighborhood quality.

Rizzo is based out of Sterling Heights and has been in business since 1965 serving the metro Detroit area, including Bloomfield Township.