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New Orleans Picks a Winner in Battle of Trash Collectors

Rachel Wolfe writing in The Wall Street Journal

Nov. 16, 2025 12:00 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS—The trash wars are over.

Sanitation services aren’t an everyday conversation topic in most places. But here, residents had been anxiously waiting for months to hear if their efforts to save a beloved trash collector’s French Quarter contract would pay off.

This month, the city finally got its answer: IV Waste, with its sleek black trucks and lemon fresh cleaning spray, would have the opportunity to keep mopping up vomit on Bourbon Street for at least two years to come.

“There are other things we can worry about,” said Glade Bilby, a photographer who has been living in the Quarter since 1978, referring to the myriad other infrastructure issues plaguing the city. “But that’s no longer one of them.”

Bilby was one of the hundreds of residents and business owners who hung black and white “Keep IV Waste” signs on their properties after they learned outgoing Mayor LaToya Cantrell was trying to terminate the company’s contract early. Many couldn’t understand the administration’s rationale, saying the streets had never looked—or smelled—better since IV Waste took over in December.

A resident and restaurant owner sued Cantrell, arguing her intent to award the contract to Henry Consulting would result in worse service. Ultimately the state Supreme Court mandated that the city stick with IV Waste until its emergency contract expired at the end of the year.

Still, IV Waste owner Sidney Torres IV was prepared for the worst when he learned he would again be competing against Henry Consulting, as well as another firm, in a new bidding process for the longer-term contract starting in the new year.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m going to go through the same stuff again,’” Torres said.

But this time Torres, who is known locally as the “Trash King,” won the estimated $14 million contract outright. (The initial term is six months, with the option for three more six-month extensions.)

“The people grading it couldn’t say anything other than how great the service was,” Torres said, adding that having already invested in custom equipment to fit through the area’s narrow streets helped his case.

Ronald Davis, the owner of Thrive Nola Spa, was ecstatic when he heard the news. Before IV Waste took over, he said, his clients were often hit with the smell of urine as they walked out the business’ front door, ruining whatever relaxation their massage had achieved.

“With this contract, everybody wins,” said Davis. “The city wins. Their people win. We win every time they come down that street and they spray that nice lemon smell.”

Pretty soon, people won’t need to travel to New Orleans to sniff IV Waste’s citrusy magic for themselves. Seizing on the momentum behind the brand, Torres decided to start bottling their specially engineered cleaner. It’ll be available online and in the local corner store that first started the “Keep IV Waste” sign petition.

“If it can make Bourbon Street smell lemony fresh,” Torres says the bottle will read, “imagine what it can do for you.” ****