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Scion of Bronx trash empire with spotty safety record sidesteps NYC commercial waste reform

Liam Quigley

Published Oct 7, 2024

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A garbage truck with a sign on its side that says "Royal Waste Services, Inc."

Liam Quigley

Published Oct 7, 2024

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The heir to a disgraced Bronx trash empire is teaming up with a politically connected waste hauler to form a trash collection syndicate — a move that could undermine ongoing reforms of the city’s notoriously corrupt private garbage industry.

Steven Squitieri Jr. was all but shut out of the trash hauling business six years ago, after city officials revoked the license for his family’s company, Sanitation Salvage, due to a series of safety, labor and ethical violations. But earlier this year, he was hired by another carting company that quickly moved to monopolize garbage collection from businesses in entire stretches of the Bronx.

His maneuvering comes as the city's sanitation department is implementing new rules to increase competition and crack down on bad actors in the industry — and as a key competitor alleges in a lawsuit that Squitieri and his new employer are actively stealing their business.

For more than 30 years, the Squitieri family was well-known to business owners across the five boroughs through the tight grip Sanitation Salvage had over private trash collection. But the family began to lose its power in 2018, when reporting from ProPublica and Voice of America uncovered the company’s dangerous work conditions that sent garbage crews on long routes that took more than 12 hours to complete, leading to fatigue and a string of fatal truck crashes. The Squitieris installed a sham union at their company, telling their workers they were represented by a Teamsters local that was actually run by a pair of men with mob ties, according to the report.

Sanitation Salvage was accused of undercutting the market, offering businesses low rates for trash pickup while paying its workers dismal wages.

The coverage prompted the city’s Business Integrity Commission to revoke Sanitation Salvage’s license to operate in the city. The decision all but put the company — which was formed by Matteo Squitieri in 1978 and later run by his son, Steven Squitieri Sr. — out of business.

Now a new generation of the family, led by Squitieri Jr., who used to work alongside his father, is carving out another trash kingdom. After the fall of Sanitation Salvage, Squitieri — also known as “Little Stevie” — went to work for Falso Carting, another Bronx trash hauler with a troubled safety record. But earlier this year, Squitieri and another former Sanitation Salvage employee, John Burke, jumped ship and joined the Queens-based outfit Royal Waste Services. In a lawsuit filed in August, both were accused of poaching clients from Falso Carting.

Waste Connections bought Royal Waste in September for more than $39 million. The deal is a sign of consolidation in the troubled industry amid New York City's commercial waste reform.

Liam Quigley

Last month, Royal Waste was acquired by Waste Connections, creating one of the city’s largest private waste hauling company — and taking Squitieri along for the ride.

Squitieri’s tactics are relatively standard in the cutthroat world of New York City trash collection, according to industry experts. But they come as the sanitation department is rolling out reforms to the private carting industry through so-called commercial waste zones, which split the city into 20 districts where no more than three vetted companies can pick up garbage from private businesses, in an effort to root out bad actors and improve safety.

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who as a city councilmember chaired the City Council's sanitation committee and pushed through the commercial waste zone reforms, was troubled that at least two people who used to work for Sanitation Salvage are regaining a foothold in the private carting industry.

“Sanitation Salvage was the poster child for this legislation,” said Reynoso. “They were able to provide the lowest prices to businesses by cutting corners on very important things like safety, like vehicle safety.”

“It was because of that that they used to run through stop signs, run through red lights, speed through our streets,” he said.

Gobbling up trash collection

The lawsuit filed by Falso Carting alleges Squitieri is once again offering businesses shockingly low rates for trash pickup — this time on behalf of Royal Waste, which is at the same time caught up in an ethical scandal tied to Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 election campaign.

The lawsuit accuses Squitieri and Burke of misleading more than 25 businesses that had contracts with Falso, in order to get them to switch over to their new employer. It alleges Squitieri told a Bronx barbershop owner over the summer that Falso was "splitting" into Royal Waste. He then collected payments from the owner for July and August before suddenly showing up and refunding the client, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit claims other businesses approached by Squitieri over the summer include Arties, a steak house on City Island. The restaurant’s owner, Spiros Chagares, told Gothamist he was happy to take up Squitieri’s offer for Royal Waste to pick up his trash because the rate was so cheap.

“Royal sent the salesman in there, beat the price, and I went with the cheaper price,” said Chagares. “That's all that was. It was strictly business."

Around the same time Squitieri went to work for Royal Waste, his new employer was flagged by the city’s top election watchdog for potentially violating the law by bundling campaign donations to Adams’ 2021 election campaign. The campaign is now at the center of the mayor’s federal indictment.

Five employees of Royal Waste gave a combined $10,800 to then-candidate Adams on the same day — June 7, 2021 — just two weeks before Adams won the Democratic primary, according to a draft audit from the city's Campaign Finance Board that was obtained by Gothamist. The donations were flagged by campaign auditors, who demanded that Adams’ campaign explain by Nov. 29, 2024, how the contributions were solicited.

Less than three years after the Royal Waste employees made the donations, the company was awarded licenses to pick up trash from businesses in five of the city’s 20 commercial waste zones. Falso, on the other hand, was not awarded a single license for pickup, all but boxing it out of the private carting industry.

When reached by phone, Burke said it was unreasonable to draw any comparison between Squitieri's work for Royal Waste and his association with his father’s work at Sanitation Salvage.

“A has nothing to do with B,” said Burke. “His father has no influence whatsoever over this. None. None.”

“As a salesman, as well as working in the garbage industry, you want to take as many customers that are calling you as possible,” he added.

David Biderman, a trash industry insider and safety consultant for private carting companies, said the commercial waste zone reforms have encouraged aggressive sales practices that can blur ethical lines.

“I have heard from several carters that CWZ [commercial waste zone] awardees are seeking to obtain new customers even in neighborhoods that have not yet started the transition to CWZ,” he said. “And some of them have been misrepresenting the timing during which a store is required to switch carters.”

A new trash empire

As Squitieri and Burke worked to bring in more business for Royal Waste, their new company was also gearing up for a merger to consolidate much of the city’s private trash collection.

Last month, Royal Waste was bought out by Texas-based Waste Connections for more than $39 million, a representative for the company confirmed.

Waste Connections was awarded 13 zones under the city’s new commercial waste system. With its acquisition of Royal Waste, the new conglomerate would hold sway over trash pickup in all but two districts in the city.

Waste Connections wasn’t awarded the right to pick up trash in any of the zones in the Bronx, but Royal Waste holds licenses for both zones in the borough.

“Waste Connections recently acquired Royal Waste Services because of its long history of providing customers with the highest-quality waste management and environmental services,” Charles Mahoney, the New York-area vice president for Waste Connections, said in a statement. “Royal Waste will continue to attract customers based on its outstanding service. We believe the allegations in the lawsuit are meritless. We intend to fight them vigorously in court.”

A Royal Waste trash can in the Bronx.

Liam Quigley

Up and down streets in the Bronx, store owners said they had been visited by a Royal salesperson. Royal Waste stickers were visibly slapped over Falso stickers on the certificates in the windows of businesses indicating which carter was responsible for hauling waste.

Sanitation officials said no company is allowed to operate in more than 15 zones, meaning the newly merged company will have to give up three of their licenses.

“The Commercial Waste Zone program is intended to establish new safety standards for workers in the commercial carting industry, improve service for businesses, increase diversion rates and reduce vehicle miles traveled, while maintaining fair competition and competitive pricing,” sanitation department spokesperson Joshua Goodman said.

Goodman also pointed out the department has the authority to look into wrongdoing by carters in the new waste zones and can install independent monitors at its discretion.

Eric Goldstein, a lawyer at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council who pushed the city to reform the private waste industry, said the sanitation department would need to keep a close eye on allegations of misconduct among companies awarded commercial waste zone licenses.

“The city needs to be extremely cautious in awarding new contracts or in allowing subcontracts that might threaten to turn back the clock to yesteryear in terms of allowing problematic carters to regain a toehold in the industry,” he said. “The whole focus and purpose of the commercial waste zone reform legislation was to turn over a new leaf.”

Tagged

new york city

public safety

bronx

sanitation

Liam Quigley

Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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