City of Leeds Ecosouth Update
Ecosouth, our City of Leeds waste management company, has begun pickup up cans for non-payment of waste management services. Many of these accounts have not paid their garbage bills since the onset of Ecosouth services last year.
As you know, City of Leeds awarded the city's waste management service contract to Ecosouth with services that begun August 2, 2021. The waste management contract is just like any other public utility such as Alabama Power who is awarded a city-wide contract. The City of Leeds does not have anything to do with account payments. Those are handled directly between the account holder and the public utility. In this case, it is Ecosouth.
If your can has been picked up and you desire to continue waste management services, please contact Ecosouth direct at 205.974.2287 to settle your account and billing information and your can will be returned to you.
Please refer any questions or concerns directly to Ecosouth, your waste management service. Their website is www.ecosouthservices.net.
Thank you for your attention in this matter.
City of Leeds
UPDATE:
In further investigating this issue with the social media complaints on What's Happening in Leeds, there are approximately 1200 accounts that have not paid not only the last three month bill, but have not paid their bills up to 4 out of the 4 billing cycles. If a payment is made recently on an old past due account, the payment is applied to the oldest bill. If there are still two or more billing cycles due, people remain on the list for cans to be picked up. If your payment has been mailed, it goes to a lockbox and takes a reasonable amount of time for that payment to be posted to the account. Autopay is not available to City of Leeds, but anyone can make a one time payment via their website. If you feel that there has been an error, your account is up to date and your can was still picked up, here is a number to call to get that resolved - 251.675.9800.
IF YOU HAVE UNRESOLVED WASTE MANAGEMENT ISSUES THAT YOU CANNOT RESOLVE, PLEASE CLICK ON THE BUTTON BELOW TO SUBMIT A HOUSEHOLD TRASH SERVICE ISSUE COMPLAINT:
WASTE MANAGEMENT FAQS
- The City of Leeds has a new waste provider which begins August 2, 2021. Carts will be delivered July 26-July 30 along with a flyer confirming your weekly service day. You will begin using your new carts August 2, 2021.
- If you have questions regarding your new service, please contact the new company, EcoSouth, at the phone numbers provided on the flyer rather than the city. The trash franchise is no different from other franchises of the city, Alabama Power, Spire Energy, etc. The city has no insight into their day-to-day operations. As we receive information from Ecosouth regarding how their process will work and are working, we will be happy to communicate that information.
- Ecosouth has just received a list of current residential customers from Advanced Disposal/Waste Management Company and a mailer is being sent out Wednesday, July 21, 2021 to those customers. If you are not a current customer of Advance Disposal/Waste Management for residential trash pickup and would like to have Ecosouth pick up your trash, please call Ecosouth to set up a new account.
- Why did the first notices put out on social media say for everyone to call to set up service rather than just call for autopay? The City of Leeds and Ecosouth both originally thought all customers would have to call to set up service, because Ecosouth would not know who the current customers were, but after receiving the list of current residential customers from your current provider, then Ecosouth could automatically set up your service and deliver your containers without you having to call. Of course, new customers would still need to call to set up service.
- What if I am a business customer? Please refer to the Business Customer FAQ information below.
- The change will happen automatically, if you are a current waste management customer. People only need to call Ecosouth if you want to set up autopay (otherwise, you will get a bill in the mail for service.)
- Can I utilize autopay online? Online and autopay portals are not in service yet, but should be up and active in approximately two weeks. on the Ecosouth website.
- When will I receive my first bill from Ecosouth if I am a current customer? Customers will receive their first bill at the beginning of September for service period of August, September and October.
- Ecosouth will begin delivering containers with Monday customers first and will deliver all of those containers before moving on to Tuesday customers and so on. Most customers will not see a change in the day their garbage is picked up, but there is a possibility that your garbage day could change.
- What if my garbage does not get picked up? Please call the Birmingham number for Ecosouth on the flyer to let them know.
- Will I get the same number of containers? Yes, if you are a residential customer with one container, one container will be delivered. If you currently have two containers, you should receive two containers and so on.
- What happens if someone has paid up for several months past August 2, when the new service begins? You should get a refund from Waste Management for any amounts paid for service beyond August 2, 2021. Ecosouth is a separate company.
- Why do I have an increase in cost of my garbage pickup? Cost of doing business has increased for all businesses and Ecosouth was the lowest responsible bidder.
- Why did the City of Leeds not renew the waste management contract with Advanced Disposal/Waste Management? The waste management contract with Advanced Disposal/Waste Management expired last year during the COVID-19 pandemic; therefore, the contract was transferred to an annual contract with the agreement that either party could discontinue the contract with a 30 day notice. Advanced Disposal/Waste Management exercised that 30 day provision in June 2021 and gave the City of Leeds a 30 day notice that the current contract would be discontinued. The City of Leeds put the waste management contract out for bids and Ecosouth was the lowest responsible bidder so the contract was awarded to them.
- What about trash and limb pickup? There is no change in that service.
- What about recycling? There is no change in that service.
- What about taking things to the dump? There is no change. The dump in Moody has always operated separately from the trash contract.
- What about someone who is in Leeds, but not within the city limits of Leeds. The change only impacts persons within the City of Leeds corporate limits.
BUSINESS CUSTOMER FAQS
- Ecosouth was not provided with a list of business customers by the previous company so they do not know who you are to be able to automatically service you. If you are a business customer who needs a residential trash container, please call and set up new service. Otherwise, you will not have trash pickup.
- If you do not currently have waste management services, Ecosouth would be happy to service you. Just call and set up a new account.
If you need to contact the City of Leeds for any reason, please utilize our Online Services Portal available through our website so that your question or concern can be routed to the appropriate department. We have begun to utilize social media to assist Ecosouth with getting notifications and information out to people, but as previously mentioned, any particular questions should be routed to the appropriate company or department.