The Massachusetts attorney general’s office said Tuesday it reached a $525,000 settlement agreement with a trash hauler that it said repeatedly failed to empty overflowing trash dumpsters and recycling containers across the Lawrence Public School system, delayed or disregarded residential trash pickups and left yard waste uncollected.
State Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s said JRM Hauling and Recycling Services, a subsidiary of Republic Services, failed to honor its waste and recycling contract with Lawrence, leading to uncollected trash that caused unsanitary conditions across the city.
Phoenix-based Republic Services purchased JRM Hauling and Recycling Services of Peabody in 2022. The following year, as WHAV reported at the time, the company paid $9 million for a warehouse on 4.8 acres of land at 5 Fondi Road, Haverhill.
Campbell’s office said it began investigating Republic in 2022 following public reports of significant disruptions to waste management services in north shore communities after Republic bought JRM Hauling and Recycling Services. It said, the investigation focused on Republic’s conduct in Lawrence where “the disruptions were most egregious.”
The attorney general’s office alleged Republic violated the Massachusetts False Claims Act by misrepresenting its capacity to serve Lawrence by forecasting a “seamless transition” and committing to providing the “same level of service” residents had been accustomed to, despite knowing it did not have the personnel or equipment to back up these statements. It also alleged Republic pre-billed Lawrence for four months of waste hauling and recycling services it knew it could not provide and for which Republic was paid.