For slightly more than two decades, Knight Waste Services served as the sole minority-owned business responsible for picking up trash across Fort Worth.
That changed last May, when City Council members voted to eliminate a requirement that Waste Management hire minority- and women-owned businesses as part of its $479 million trash contract. The result: Black-owned Knight Waste is no longer in operation. By early December, Waste Management had taken over all of the company’s routes.
Founded by businessman and former Dallas City Manager Richard Knight Jr., Knight Waste continued operating under his sons Marcus Knight and the late Richard L. Knight following their father’s death. Marcus Knight declined an interview request, but said his family is grateful to have been a contractor and wishes “the residents of Fort Worth well.”
The controversial council decision followed monthslong issues with missed trash collections and resident complaints. Proponents of the removal, including City Council member Charlie Lauersdorf, said it would reduce resident complaints and streamline operations for Waste Management.
The vote sent one message in particular to residents, Lauersdorf told the Report in February.
“The city will ensure its contractors and subcontractors are performing the services they are required to, at the level they’re expected to. Our taxpayers deserve it, and we should be demanding it,” Lauersdorf said.
Ten months after the vote was taken, reported missed garbage collections have increased on average, according to data obtained by the Fort Worth Report.
In a City Council meeting last year, environmental services department director Cody Whittenburg said the city reported an average of about 1,600 missed bulk waste collections each month from October 2023 to March 2024. In order to meet industry standards, contractors should not exceed 1,100 missed collections per month, said Whittenburg.
Data obtained by the Report through an open records request shows missed pickups increased after the contract was amended. The city reported an average of 2,400 monthly missed bulk waste collections between June 2024 to January 2025, the data shows. Bulk waste collections include garbage, recycling and yard waste.
Missed bulk waste pickups reported to the city reached their peak in August 2024, hitting 3,291 before falling to 2,283 the following month. The number fell before rising back to 2,368 in December, when Waste Management took over full responsibility for collections.
In January, the number of missed garbage collections was reported at 1,998. Waste Management and its contractors make about 1.1 million service attempts each month.
Amid the fluctuating numbers, Lauersdorf pointed to improvements in services. Unlike Knight Waste, Waste Management staff ensure trash bins are completely replaced on the ground following a pickup, and make sure the garbage “actually” makes it in the trash, Lauersdorf said. When there are misses, they are promptly taken care of without involving the intervention of city leaders, he added.
The recent increase in missed trash collections could be because of Waste Management taking on full transition of all routes, said Lauersdorf.
Waste Management spokesperson Lisa Doughty said the company’s percentage of successful collections remains statistically high.
“Despite initial challenges, including weather-related delays, service has steadily improved,” said Doughty. “Comparing (missed pickup) numbers from December 2024 to January 2025, there is a clear positive trend in the right direction. WM remains committed to delivering reliable, high-quality service to residents.”
Fort Worth's trash collection service demands skyrocket
When the contract with Knight Waste Services started, the city collected trash from about 142,000 homes. Because of the city’s growth, that number has now surpassed 256,000, Steve Keller, public sector manager for Waste Management, said last year.
Disagreements over Knight’s performance, minority requirement remain
Business leaders remain critical of how the city approached removing the minority-owned business requirement.
To Alex Jimenez, a former Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce chairperson, the elimination not only hurts local companies but reflects poorly on the city.
“Ten years down the road, see what the repercussions are. They didn’t do anything to help the city move forward,” said Jimenez.
District 4 City Council member Charlie Lauersdorf, center, listens to a speaker at a meeting May 21, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report) Lauersdorf argues otherwise.
“Residents don’t care who picks up their trash, they don’t care what kind of company it is or isn’t. What they care about is that a service they are paying for is completed when it’s supposed to, and how it’s supposed to,” said Lauersdorf.
Council members Jared Williams and Chris Nettles opposed the decision at the time, citing concerns about the precedent the vote set for other minority businesses contracted with the city. Neither returned requests for comment for this story.
“This is an important vote, but this is bigger than just this vote,” Williams said in May. “It’s about where we want to invest our money, and I want to invest in small businesses and in Fort Worth businesses.”
Others said the change was necessary. Council member Gyna Bivens previously said Knight Waste Services was the only minority-owned waste collection company in the state. Because the company was not able to complete 25% of Waste Management’s contract, there aren’t other local contractors available, she said.
“This does not feel good, but I know the reality of it is that looking for 25% in this area and in this state, you’re not going to find it,” Bivens said in May.
If Knight Waste staff had performed as poorly as reported, they would have been released from their contract earlier, said Randle Howard, president and CEO of R.D. Howard Construction. The company performed up to “the standards” for several years, he added.
“Knight was a tremendous asset to this community and to the minority business community supporting a lot of very positive things here for a long time,” said Randle, who has earned a Minority Business Award from the Rotary Club of Fort Worth — a program formerly overseen by Richard L. Knight, who died last spring. “They will be sorely missed.”
Howard believes the city could have pursued other options when it came to addressing the issue of missed trash collections. Those options include subcontracting additional businesses or reassigning Knight Waste staff to other tasks such as maintenance and cleanups, contracting drivers and supplying Waste Management with materials.
“I understand … it may be hard to find someone else that did exactly what Knight (Waste) did and had the expertise to bring to the table,” said Howard. “But there are a whole lot of other needs that other minority businesses could have easily filled.”
Michelle Green-Ford, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, accompanied city leaders last year in their plan to strengthen Fort Worth’s relationship with minority-owned businesses following outcry over the Knight Waste decision.
Green-Ford said she regrets the city’s decision to remove the minority business requirement, but continues to work with Fort Worth leaders. She has already met with the environmental services department and Waste Management to find solutions to encourage small and minority business participation.
These discussions and meetings have a “positive economic impact” on Fort Worth, said Green-Ford.
What’s next for Waste Management, trash contract
Waste Management has been “diligently” working to adjust operations to improve route coverage and consistency with pickups, said Lola McCartney, spokesperson for the city’s environmental services department.
“Residents can expect to see continued service level improvements as WM works to accommodate the city’s needs,” said McCartney. “City staff will continue to monitor key service metrics as WM stabilizes service levels.”
It could take “several months” for trash collection data to stabilize and for city staff to determine the “full” impacts of the transition more accurately, McCartney added.
Both McCartney and Lauersdorf confirmed there have been no changes to the city’s business equity ordinance or policies regarding the hiring of minority-owned businesses.
“The city remains committed to supporting local businesses and advancing opportunities for Business Equity Firms,” McCartney said, using the city’s terminology for minority- and women-owned businesses.
Waste Management took over the remaining 22 routes of the 30 routes previously serviced by Knight Waste, according to Doughty. Knight Waste staff were offered opportunities to join Waste Management as routes were being transferred over.
“A service change of this scale is bound to require some adjustments along the way, but we are committed to providing a world-class service experience for our customers,” said Doughty. “As we welcome Knight’s dedicated employees to the WM family, we are pleased with the progress and anticipate more improvements in the months ahead.”
In Lauersdorf’s eyes, residents only see a trash bin with “Fort Worth” on it — not the name of a contractor. Residents expect their garbage collected regardless of the company.
“As a service-disabled veteran-owned small-business owner, I would absolutely be appalled and ashamed if the city let me get away with providing subpar service just because of my business designation,” Lauersdorf added.
Jimenez suggests the city revisit the minority-owned business requirement in its trash contract, which was extended by 12 years in 2021 without a competitive bid process, to ensure Waste Management is held accountable to its obligations. The elimination of the requirement gave Waste Management “a pass” to not honor contract clauses, he said.
“I think, at the least, the city should rebid it immediately and let anyone come in. Even minorities,” Jimenez said. “If you help these companies succeed, it will lift all boats, especially if they are from (Fort Worth).”
Nicole Lopez is the environment reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at nicole.lopez@fortworthreport.org.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
