Jacksonville adds 15th recycling drop-off location as trash piles up at other sites

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A week after the city of Jacksonville suspended curbside recycling collection, another recycling drop-off site was added.

The 15th recycling drop-off site is located at the Republic Services Recycling Center at 7000 Imeson Road.

It’s open Monday to Saturday from sunrise to sunset.

The addition of the site comes as trash has piled up at some of the other 14 sites, most of which are at city parks. At the site at Palmetto Leaves Regional Park on Greenland Road, trash was piled up in the parking lot and overflowing from the dumpster on Monday. The concern is the park is used for a number of sporting events.

The dumpsters were supposed to be a temporary fix. To focus attention on other trash pickup, it was expected people would drop off at the sites items that could be recycled and the debris would be picked up every day but Sunday. In many cases, it’s not. It’s a growing mess, much to the disappointment of those who are actually trying to recycle the correct way like Nathaniel Ortav.

“It made me sad,” Ortav said. “It looks like the landfill. People don’t respect, in my opinion, people don’t respect the environment enough to take the time to place things in there correctly.”

At Earl Johnson Memorial Park on St. Augustine Road, broken glass could be seen Monday morning, and there was trash outside the dumpsters. The concern is the dumpsters are full and the contents haven’t been picked up.

Plus, many people are not following the rules and are leaving plastic bags and dropping off things that are not recyclable.

Alexa Ellis was dumping off recycling trash on the Southside and was surprised when she drove up on Monday.

“I was immediately pretty disappointed. This is tough to see. Recycling, it’s huge,” Ellis said. “I don’t even know what to say.”

At William F. Sheffield Regional Park on New Berlin Road, the dumpsters were overflowing with trash on Monday.

News4Jax checked with the city to find out why this is happening. The mayor’s staff said that it’s now a week into the plan to suspend curbside recycling collection and they’re reevaluating. They might add more pickup times at the parks. Right now, it only happens once in the evening after the parks are closed.

The 15 recycling drop-off sites include:

Blue Cypress Regional Park, 4112 University Blvd. N. – 32277

William F. Sheffield Regional Park, 3659 New Berlin Road – 32226

Girvin Road Landfill, 515 Girvin Road – 32225

Southside Estates Elementary Park, 9775 Ivey Road – 32246

Earl Johnson Memorial Park, 5308 St. Augustine Road – 32207

Palmetto Leaves Regional Park, 5760 Greenland Road – 32257

A. Philip Randolph Heritage Park, 1096 A. Philip Randolph Blvd. – 32206

Dinsmore Playground Park, 10632 Old Kings Road – 32219

Hammond Park, 2142 Melson Ave. – 32254

Mary Lena Gibbs Community Center, 6974 Wilson Blvd. – 32210

Fort Family Regional Park, 8000 Baymeadows Road E. – 32256

Normandy Park, 1728 Lindsey Road – 32221

Castaway Island Preserve, 2885 San Pablo Road S. – 32225

Riverside Park, 753 Park St. – 32204

Republic Services Recycling Center, 7000 Imeson Road – 32219