Athens Services expands operations in Southern California

Athens Services, a City of Industry, California-based waste collection and recycling company, has expanded its operations into Oak Park, California, and unincorporated areas of Simi Valley and Moorpark. The contract went into effect Jan. 2.

The territories were previously served by Houston-based WM.

Athens Services made the announcement in July of last year. As previously reported by Waste Today, the firm will serve approximately 6,700 residential customers in the Southeast Residential Service Area, a section of Ventura County that includes Oak Park and other communities near the cities of Moorpark, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, California.

Services will include recycling food scraps and other organic materials as required by California’s SB 1383.

As reported by the Simi Valley Acorn, the city of Thousand Oaks signed a multimillion-dollar, 15-year waste-hauling and recycling agreement with Athens Services in 2021. The deal is expected to save customers an estimated $70 million over the life of the contract.

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Thousand Oaks and Santa Paula, which are both serviced by Athens, were the first cities in Ventura County to offer citywide organics.

“Bundled services, consisting of dedicated containers for trash, recycling and organic waste, will enable residents to participate in source separation in an economical and environmentally sustainable manner,” Athens says in a statement.

Between Jan. 15 and Feb. 2, collection containers will be exchanged, and residents will receive a black container for waste, a blue container for recycling and a green container for organic waste. Residents will be able to continue using their existing containers during the transition period until all containers have been exchanged, Athens says.

Athens Services was awarded its franchise following a bidding process that involved several waste haulers. Athens submitted the winning bid for one of four service areas, while Ventura-based Harrison Industries was awarded contracts in the other three quadrants.