By: Larry Rulison
November 4, 2020
ALBANY — Twin Bridges Waste & Recycling has been waging a furious trash war against County Waste and its newest acquisition target, Robert Wright Disposal of Slingerlands.
Now, County Waste is hauling Twin Bridges into court to decide whether or not Twin Bridges has been playing dirty.
County Waste, which is owned by a company called Waste Connections, is suing Twin Bridges in state Supreme Court in Albany, alleging that Twin Bridges and its employees have been spreading falsehoods about County Waste to its customers and former Robert Wright customers.
"Dozens of customers have breached their contracts" with County Waste, the Nov. 2 lawsuit states, "resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of dollars in revenue."
County Waste is also seeking $150,000 in "unpaid liquidated damages" due to the alleged effort by Twin Bridges to discredit County Waste.
Twin Bridges owner Scott Earl has a long history with County Waste. He sold County Waste to Waste Connections in 2011, and in 2019, he agreed to sell two of his trash hauling businesses in Virginia and Pennsylvania to a Canadian company called GFL Environmental for $725 million.
The County Waste lawsuit argues that Earl may be expanding Twin Bridges with his eyes set on another merger with GFL that could net Earl "hundreds of millions of dollars."
Twin Bridges, which is based in Halfmoon, has been rapidly expanding beyond its Saratoga County location to add a significant customer base in places like Colonie and Bethlehem by offering households free trash pickup for a year or more in some cases.
The County Waste lawsuit alleges that Twin Bridges has been "unfairly competing" with County Waste by spreading lies to its customer base.
In one case, County Waste alleges, when Twin Bridges convinced the owners of The Hamlet at Slingerlands to switch to their trash service, workers withTwin Bridges took the 13 dumpsters and 27 trash bins that County Waste had located at the site and abandoned them in the parking lot of the Price Chopper plaza next door, resulting in some of the equipment being damaged.
Earl did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
This article was originally published on timesunion.com.