Beauregard Parish residents without trash cans as new contractor takes over

Beauregard Parish residents without trash cans as new contractor takes over

The bin delay traces back to an expired sales tax and a compressed 90-day bidding process

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Trash cans are disappearing across Beauregard Parish this week, and it’s not theft; it’s the parish’s outgoing waste contractor taking back its bins before a new company takes over.

Waste Pro officially became Beauregard Parish’s new waste collection contractor this week, but the company won’t have its own bins shipped in until the middle of October. In the meantime, crews are picking up garbage by hand.

“I think it’s really something to talk about. Because it involves a little bit of politics and a little bit of their own personal business,” said Dan Batchelor, who lives just inside the DeRidder city line on Franklin Road.

Batchelor’s own garbage can went missing this week after Waste Connections, the parish’s outgoing contractor, came through to collect its bins once its contract ended. One side of his street is in the parish, and the other is in the city. The contractor took his by accident.

“They came through picking up trash cans, but they took everyone’s from beginning to end of the str...