Dive Brief:

• Complaints about late pickups of curbside recycling materials in Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Sherwood, AR are back to normal levels after Waste Management discussed the problem with officials from those Pulaski County towns. Since Jan. 1, there have been more than 2,200 complaints filed — which surpasses the 2,096 complaints filed through the entire year of 2014. 
• "I think what it really boiled down to was just an issue of communication," said George Wheatley, market area manager for Waste Management. "I'm not going to say there was a huge service issue." The company also got most of its fleet back on the road after some breakdowns.
• Waste Management covers 90,000 homes in the three cities and has been paid $2.76 per home per month.

Dive Insight:

Late pickups aren't just annoying for residents, they can be costly for Waste Management. Little Rock bills the company $50 every time a city worker has to make a curbside pickup, which happened 78 times in April and May, but only 14 times in June and July.

To help improve matters, Waste Management has developed the Recycle Action Plan, which includes weekly meetings between district manager Brian Temple and city officials. The company said it will make a daily list of complaints and share it with the cities. Also, it has brought in more trucks.

So far, all three cities agree there are fewer problems.