Manassas Journal Messenger | New trash collector in Haymarket

American Disposal Services is continuing a clean sweep of local trash collection contracts.

Haymarket Mayor David Taylor said he told the Manassas-based company that the town will enter into a three-year hauling agreement with the company.

The announcement comes after the town’s former hauler, Five Star Hauling Services, declared bankruptcy in January.

Five Star was the primary hauler for the City of Manassas and the towns of Dumfries, Haymarket and Occoquan until last month.

That’s when American Disposal Services purchased Five Star’s business assets, said an American Disposal official.

American Disposal, whose co-owner Larry Edwards is Five Star president Winnie Poehlor’s brother, has been picking up where Five Star left off.

American Disposal offered Haymarket a bid that’s about $2,000 more per month than what Five Star had received, Taylor said.

On Thursday he said he decided to award it.

The increase in cost, which brings the monthly per house fee to $16.95, now covers a disposal fee that the Prince William County landfill charges, said Buff Mundale, who manages government contracts for American Disposal.

Five Star had offered the localities low rates that didn’t cover the county’s landfill fee, which eventually eroded their bottom line, Mundale said.

“We notified [Five Star’s] existing customers that we’re taking over and where necessary we’re adjusting the price,” Mundale said. “We told them we would honor the existing contract for a month while they examined other bids.”

Taylor said he’s happy that American has been collecting the town’s trash for the past month.

“The services will all stay the same,” Taylor said. “I don’t anticipate there being any change in the taxes. Our tax base has grown steadily in past years and with the development and influx of businesses in the town, I don’t think it’s going to affect anything other than having to budget for it.”

Haymarket residents receive trash services through the town-administered contract. The service is paid for through real estate taxes.

Mundale said the towns of Occoquan and Dumfries were offered similar intermediate services while their respective councils consider competing bids.