BEVERLY — Residents in the city are allowed to throw out their recycling with their trash due to delays by the strike-addled Republic Services Inc.
The city has received a waiver from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection allowing recycling to go out with trash due to high percentages of contamination and public health concerns from recycling that’s been rotting outside for nearly two months, Mayor Mike Cahill said in a message to residents over the weekend.
The waiver will be active for the next two weeks.
Many streets in Beverly have not seen curbside recycling collection since Teamsters Local 25 members working for Republic Services went on strike July 1.
Though the city has hosted drop-off recycling events and replacement Republic workers have collected recycling from some neighborhoods, the response has not been enough to meet demand, Cahill said.
“While definitely not ideal, this will hopefully get the hauler, Republic Services, caught up and prevent significant health problems,” he said.
Recycling and trash will be picked up together by Republic, though each neighborhood’s collection will be a day behind, Cahill said.
Trash and recycling should be on the curb before 7 a.m.
Residents are allowed to drop off recycling in a dumpster at the Standley Street compost site from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day through Saturday, Cahill said.
Republic and the Teamsters remain at an impasse in contract negotiations. The parties have not negotiated since July 18, causing Republic to draw ire from the public, business owners, legislators, Gov. Maura Healey and local municipal leaders.
Republic Services, which is based in Phoenix, employs about 42,000 full-time workers. It reported a 2024 net income of $2.04 billion on revenue of $16.03 billion, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Teamsters said Republic has refused to meet with them unless they drop a request to take the union’s health insurance over the company’s. The Hauler denied this in a statement to The Salem News.
They also remain at odds over wages and a request for a clause by the union that would prevent Republic from disciplining workers for actions taken during the strike.
The company has accused picketers of slashing tires on Republic vehicles and otherwise vandalizing them, as well as preventing workers from moving in and out of Republic sites and harassing them. The union has denied such accusations.
The Teamsters said a Republic hauling truck driven by a replacement driver rear-ended a car waiting to turn onto Route 1 in Danvers last week. State Police did not return The Salem News’ request for comment on the incident.
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com.