JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Four months into the suspension of curbside recycling pickup in Jacksonville, there is no end in sight.
In order to come up with some type of solution, Jacksonville City Council President Sam Newby has put together a new committee.
The Special Committee on Solid Waste is formed of five City Council members who will work to come up with a new way to deal with solid waste.
The special committee is charged with performing an in-depth study of the city’s current solid waste and recycling collection system, deciding whether any changes are needed, and studying how to best fund operations.
It’s also tasked with recommending what should or should not be recycled because, currently, there is no real market for certain plastics and glass.
Council members Ron Salem, Joyce Morgan, Matt Carlucci, Randy White and Reggie Gaffney will make up the special committee.
Carlucci has already held a special meeting, during which News4JAX learned that there is talk of doing away with the $152 garbage fee and taking the cost of garbage pickup out of the city budget. That will be part of the discussion of the special committee.
Residents have become very frustrated by the curbside recycling suspension, saying they are paying for a service that they are not getting and now they are stuck having to drive to drop-off sites to dump off recycling material. The city says there are just not enough drivers to make curbside pickup work.
Newby told News4JAX on Monday that he did not form the special committee because of the outcry.
“The mayor and the administration have done a good job, but it’s time for the special committee to look and see what we can do ... to figure out what we can do better as a city to pick up this trash for citizens,” Newby said.
The committee is expected to wrap up work by the end of June.