New Orleans could save more than $13 million over the next decade by handling illegal dumping cleanup with its own crews instead of paying an outside contractor, according to a public letter from the city's Office of Inspector General released August 6, 2026. The watchdog's analysis found that contracting out the work would cost the city an estimated $22.9 million between 2027 and 2036, compared to just $9.7 million if the Department of Sanitation did the job in-house — a 57 percent reduction worth $13,167,592.
The findings were reported by WGNO on October 8, 2026, after WWL-TV reported the same OIG analysis on August 10, 2026. They come after years of the city leaning on private contractor MDL Enterprises to clear backlogs of illegal dumping complaints. Per the OIG letter, sanitation staff told investigators the work could be handled in-house, even as the department has struggled with underfunding and understaffing that contributed to poor service and slow response times. Looking back at 2023 through 2025 alone, the city paid MDL $5,507,944, while in-house operations over that same span would have cost an estimated $3,555,313 — a gap of $1,952,631 in excess spending, according to WWL-TV.
Why Tires Became the Sticking Point
The duplicated-effort problem traced back to a licensing gap. MDL, a private company, was not licensed in Louisiana to haul waste tires, even though tires made up more than 22 percent of illegal dumping complaints, per the OIG report. The contractor could clean up general debris from a dump site, but it had to leave tire piles behind for the Department of Sanitation to collect separately — forcing city crews to follow contractor equipment just to finish the job, according to the same report. The inspector general noted that this split arrangement caused the contracted and in-house cleanup work to duplicate efforts unnecessarily.
Louisiana regulates waste tires, and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality provides information about its waste-tire program.
How the City Got Here
New Orleans began using MDL Enterprises in 2022 to help address illegal-dumping backlogs, per a report from WWL-TV at the time. The relationship continued for years afterward: the New Orleans City Council's Public Works Committee recommended Amendment No. 3 to MDL's contract in September 2025, extending its skid steer and front-end loader services through February 5, 2027, according to the New Orleans City Council.
But the city paused its use of MDL for illegal dumping cleanup in 2026 because of municipal budget constraints, per the same WWL-TV report.
Watchdog's Recommendation and What's Next
The OIG letter, addressed to Sanitation Director Matt Torri and Chief Administrative Officer Joseph Giarrusso III, urged the city to invest in its own equipment and personnel rather than continuing to rely on outside vendors. The office suggested the city consider hiring adequate staff and obtaining the necessary equipment for illegal-dumping response, with the goal of giving residents quicker and more efficient service, per the OIG's suggestion.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality launched a Waste Tire Pilot Program in May 2025 offering local governments up to $20,000 in reimbursement funding for tire cleanup equipment, labor, and site remediation, per the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
Illegal dumping along the I-10 corridor has drawn law enforcement attention before. NOPD sought help locating a dumping suspect in the area last year, and a Slidell business owner was separately arrested for dumping commercial waste near the same interstate. Whether city leadership will set aside capital funds in the next budget cycle to buy equipment and bring illegal dumping response fully in-house remains an open question raised by the inspector general's findings.
