Republic Services will face “a very substantial” fine for late curbside garbage collection in Lafayette in February and March.

Mark Dubroc, public works director for Lafayette Consolidated Government, said his office on March 7 received an invoice from the company, which has the LCG contract to collect curbside residential garbage and yard waste in the city of Lafayette and unincorporated Lafayette Parish.

Republic Services was late, sometimes days late, picking up garbage in some neighborhoods, in February and March. According to its LCG contract, Dubroc said, the company can be fined $25 per day for each container it fails to empty on time.

The contract allows the company to be one day late before the fines kick in, he said.

Exactly how much the company will be fined hasn’t been determined yet.

“The penalty is going to be very substantial,” Dubroc said, “but it will be a couple of weeks before we completely process it.”

The current invoice is for February. Republic Services also was late with collections in March and will face additional fines when that invoice is submitted.

The company issued a statement in February blaming the late pickup on illnesses, including the flu, according to news reports.

“They conceded the problems started Super Bowl Monday when they had a number of drivers call in sick with the Super Bowl flu,” Dubroc said. The Super Bowl was Feb. 4.

The company struggled to catch up, he said, then was slowed when residents took advantage of Spring weather to clean their yards, adding the burden of yard waste collection to the usual garbage collection.