Dive Brief:

• Households in the rural area east of Castro Valley, CA -- known as the Canyonlands -- will be left without curbside collection services when their current waste provider, Waste Management, stops hauling trash from the area by the end of the year. 
• The roadways leading to the 700 homes in the region are difficult to service; Waste Management realized it was losing money, prompting the company to implement a rate hike. 
• The increased rates led to a flurry of customer complaints, which in turn led Waste Management to release the residents from its services. The company will continue to provide residential waste pick-up until the end of December.

Dive Insight:

Canyonlands residents have discretion over their collection services since they live outside of any city or sanitary district. Rural locations often prove difficult to service for haulers, and recycling rates don’t yield worthwhile results, often leading to the inability to secure recycling pick-up.

Waste Management spokesperson Joe Camero said that, “Canyonlands customers are free to choose or dismiss any collection hauler they choose,” and that the company “is under no franchise agreement or county obligation to service Canyonlands.”

One company that specializes in niche markets like rural American towns is Waste Connections. The company has built a small and steady business by staying out of the way of behemoth Waste Management, adeptly eliminating direct competition for similar markets. This model has served Waste Connections well; the hauler boosted prices by 3% in 2013 while Waste Management prices rose about 1.5% over the same time period.