Waste Management’s Final Weeks in Universal City

Last week, WM concluded their final week servicing Universal City, ending a contract that lasted more than a decade. Prior to 2022, WM ran manual collections here with pickup occurring in back dirt alleys. When the city inevitably went carted, many residents were against it, as pickup moved street side and many of the elderly residents were against the “large” carts. Trash collection days were split between Mon/Thur and Wed/Sat, with recycling occurring one day between Mon-Fri. With Frontier (GFL) having the lowest bid, they were inevitably awarded the contract. Their new contract calls for 2x weekly trash, weekly recycling, and the addition of weekly bulk. With most of WM’s carts here being less than five years old, cart crews went through and disassembled the carts so that they could be used in other areas, without the need to throw many away. Frontier rolled out brand new Q series carts, one with a yellow lid for trash and one with a blue lid for recycle. Cart removal and delivery was a fairly slow process that concluded a couple weeks prior, so WM serviced Frontier’s carts for the remaining couple weeks of the contract. My previous final weeks series involved Republic last summer, so it was cool to compare how WM handles things. I certainly hope you all enjoy, as these are always some of my favorite videos to make. Thanks for watching! Big thanks to all the super friendly drivers from WM for always letting me film! Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe! Film Date: July 2026 ​⁠ Camera: iPhone 15 Pro Follow me on Instagram @andrew_the_trash_kid:   / andrew_the_trash_kid