Photograph: Jake and Kyle Lavergne, operators of Bayou State Waste along with Richard LeBouef, executive director for the St. Landry Solid Waste Landfill. (Photograph by Bobby Ardoin.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
Company officials with Bayou State Waste say they are ready to begin providing parishwide curbside residential and commercial garbage collection beginning Oct. 1.
Bayou State Waste owner Jake Lavergne told the St. Landry Solid Waste Commission last week that the company was still waiting on the delivery of two new trucks, but otherwise he feels the company will be ready to begin pick up services according to the terms of a five-year contract approved by the SWC earlier this year.
New Collection Carts
As the transition for disposing of parishwide garbage moves from Waste Connections to Bayou State, Lavergne said his company has been delivering new collection carts to many of the 36,884 households that will initially be affected.
Chief Operating Officer Kyle Lavergne said that as of last week, Bayou State was about 3,000 carts ahead of delivery schedules for the new carts that will replace the ones owned by Waste Connections.
Parish landfill executive director Richard LeBouef told the Commission during the Sept. 12 meeting that Waste Connections intends to collect each of its company-owned carts during the regular collection routes Sept. 26-30.
LeBouef explained that Waste Connections plans to utilize trucks that trail the final collection routes in order to collect carts the company has used for nearly a decade in St. Landry.
During a presentation to the St. Landry Parish Council earlier this month, LeBouef said there has been some confusion among residents about whether to use the new carts being delivered by Bayou State or the ones that have been used by Waste Connections.
Although Bayou State Waste, according to LeBouef, has provided written instructions that its carts should not be used until the company’s services become effective, some individuals have started putting out garbage on the roadsides in Bayou State carts.
LeBouef told the Council that Waste Connections in most cases, is refusing to load garbage placed in Bayou State collection carts.
About Bayou State Waste
Kyle Lavergne said the company began offering some waste collection services in 2018, mainly to the commercial sector.
“We saw a need for providing collections. We are not corporate. We are a local company. We were born and raised in St. Landry Parish,” said Jake Lavergne.
Jake Lavergne said the Bayou State Waste contract with the SWC is similar to the one the Commission currently has with Waste Connections.
In August the Commission paid Waste Connections $452,669 for parishwide garbage collections.
Lavergne added that Bayou State will be paid according to the number of households affected by the collection process. There will also be automatic contract renewals of five years, depending upon how well the company provides services, Lavergne said.
Bayou State Waste LeBouef has said plans to provide more accountability for its services.
LeBouef said the garbage trucks operated by Bayou State will have cameras that record each household stop daily in order to document that service has been provided.
Lavergne said separate contracts have been signed with other companies to collect bulk waste that is unsuitable for the household carts as well as the pickups for appliances.
