JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville’s trash troubles were supposed to be getting better with the return of curbside recycling, but some people are telling us, nothing has changed. It’s been nearly two weeks since curbside recycling resumed, and it was supposed to mean a return to normal pick-up of yard waste too.
Big bags of yard waste still like the streets on the Westside. Robert Biggs says his recycling was finally picked up this week, but yard waste collection was missed again for two weeks.
“It’s frustrating because we keep hearing that everything is getting better, and it’s not,” Biggs said.
Biggs first aired his frustration about the process to News4JAX when curbside recycling was halted in October. Now, his concern is Jacksonville is returning to the same situation. Curbside recycling was stopped so that the city could concentrate on yard waste and garbage pick-up. And six months later, Biggs said he’s concerned the problem is not getting better.
We checked with the city today about complaints made since recycling pick-up restarted.
From March 28 to April 4:
- 1,163 complaints have been made for missed garbage collection
- 1,789 complaints for missed yard waste
- And for the first week when recycling resumed, 164 complaints were made about missed pickups
The city says the majority of residents are not complaining, in fact, one spokesperson said 99% of customers have not informed them of any issues.
The majority of the concerns that have been voiced appear to be on the Westside, the area where the city has a contract with Waste Management. A supervisor there said two weeks ago that it would take two weeks to catch up on yard waste once recycling resumes.
Now, it looks like it’s going to take longer than that to get back to normal.
“If you’re going to give us service, I’m willing to pay for it. But I don’t like to pay for something and not get it,” Biggs said.
A special city council committee will meet next Thursday, April 21, at City Hall. This time, they are going to be looking at the contracts the city has with three private haulers including Waste Management.
They will learn how those contracts are laid out. The purpose of the committee is to come up with suggestions that will be presented at the end of June.