Exclusivity and the right to match: who else can take your waste

WM's published terms give it the exclusive right to collect your waste materials at the service addresses listed.^[1] Read the definition of the waste covered. If it is broad, a separate cardboard baler service, a grease or organics contract or a one-off roll-off from another company can be a breach. If it is narrow, you can buy those services separately and often more cheaply.

Where a city franchise covers your site, the franchise may already decide who may collect, and the franchise agreement controls if it conflicts with the hauler's terms.^[2]

It makes a rebid pointless. Competitors learn that their price will be shown to the incumbent and matched, so they bid less sharply or not at all, and the incumbent only has to match rather than beat. It also means telling the incumbent a competitor's prices, which bidders may not want shared.

Maine bars both versions for small-container contracts: a contract may not require the customer to tell the hauler about prices or terms offered by competitors, or to give the hauler a chance to match or respond to a competitor's offer.^[3] The Department of Justice has required contract changes meant to make it easier for customers to switch haulers in markets where it found competition lessened.^[4]

• Delete any right of first refusal, right to match or duty to disclose competing offers.
• Exclusivity limited to the listed services and addresses, and only for the term.
• A carve-out for recycling and special streams you may contract separately.
• No exclusivity at all for on-call or temporary roll-off service.