JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The City of Jacksonville’s suspension of curbside recycling pick-up is working, but the city’s 15 drop-off recycling locations are not being used correctly, and that could lead to some bins not making it to the recycling center.
Why was curbside recycling suspended?
The administration temporarily suspended curbside recycling with the goal of allowing contract and city haulers to have single residential pickup at curbside. It is believed the suspension will allow for pickups to catch up on missed collections.
Has the suspension been working?
Leaders with the city and the waste collection contractors say the suspension has allowed haulers to catch up on yard waste collection. The number of missed yard and trash collection has been dropping since recycling pick-up was suspended, as seen in the chart below.
When will curbside recycling restart?
There is no timeline for when curbside recycling will restart according to Will Williams, Chief of Jacksonville's Solid Waste Division. Waste collection contractors and the city of Jacksonville are still having difficulty finding licensed workers.
In a statement the city has said; "It’s our goal to get recycling back as soon as we can but after speaking with our contractors this week, they are still having difficulty finding licensed workers and are still understaffed, as are many industries across the country."
Why hasn't city leaders opened up the bidding process to find a company that can provide recycling since the current one cannot?
The city of Jacksonville has, "agreements with 3 contract haulers for residential pickups across the city, and we have a residential region that has remained covered by city operational pickups. Two of the contract haulers have agreements in place through next February, and the newest hauler – Meridian – has an agreement that began October 1.
All three haulers and the city continue to face challenges with recruiting and retaining staff. For the city staffing in recent months COJ reviewed and increased compensation amounts to try to address this need. Additionally, the contract haulers informed us they have increased their staff’s wages on at least two occasions in the last year. We continue to work with the contract haulers to review additional ways we can help them recruit and retain the people necessary.
There is ongoing communication with the haulers regarding their performance of these contracts. It is worth noting that Meridian has so far made positive gains in previously uncollected waste from the region of the city they are servicing."
What about the residential recycling fee?
"COJ collects approximately $3.5 million per month for residential solid waste collection. The Solid Waste enterprise fund already runs at a multi-million-dollar deficit each year that requires a general fund loan to that fund in each year’s budget.
The average monthly amount per household for those households serviced by the contract haulers and COJ solid waste pickups is $12 per month. A $12 per month rebate to citizens would therefore add another $3.5 million per month to the solid waste enterprise fund deficit. Taking additional dollars from the fund would have a negative impact on the already stressed system and simply add an additional problem to collection efforts.To avoid impacting the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund, the money would have to be taken either from General Fund, which potentially stresses the city’s credit worthiness, or would need to be taken from additional priorities in the budget that was approved by City Council and the Mayor effective Oct. 1.
Another option for the source of refunds would be federal Covid relief dollars that are already budgeted elsewhere. As you know, at the previous Council meeting you approved $4 million of that federal money for solutions, and that is the source for the regional recycling collection bin pickups, the yard waste transfer location, and additional work that we are currently considering that would expedite the collection catch up in the weeks and months ahead."
How can residents recycle during the suspension?
There are 15 drop off recycling locations located across the city of Jacksonville. Recycling at these locations is collected 7 days a week and city staff clean up around the containers twice daily. The city warns that leaving material outside of these bins is considered illegal dumping and they are considered adding motion sensing cameras to monitor the locations.
What can be recycled at the drop-off locations?
Paper, plastic, cartons, glass and metal can all be brought to recycling drop-off locations. Waster collectors remind resident that film plastics including plastic bags CAN NOT be recycled. Any material brought in a plastic bags must be removed from the bag and placed into bins loose.
“Stop putting your recycling in plastic bags. The plastic bags hurt the recycling machines and that’s really bad for our community it also contaminates a lot of the trucks and the loads of recycling," said Christina Kelcourse, executive director of the North Florida Green Chamber of Commerce.
“For those that are wondering, at the end of the day it’s a safety issue for our sorters to rip open a bag. We just don’t know what’s inside it. We had to many needle pokes, glass cuts and things of that nature. So the best thing to do is you can put it in a plastic bag and rescue that plastic bag. If you just dump the contents in to the containers and then take that plastic bag back with you," Bill Brinkley with Republic services said.
Items smaller than a credit card are also not able to be recycled.