John Harman, who lives on Fox Fire Road in Milton said his garbage can disappeared overnight without his knowledge. He said he called Waste Management who directed him to call Emerald Coast Utility Authority. He said he heard everyone needing to make the switch to ECUA was supposed to get a letter. “I didn’t get a letter,” he said. At the time his can was picked up, he said he was told to wait a week for his new one. Harman’s story is one of many in Santa Rosa County where the switch to the new garbage and recycling service has been fraught with confusion and frustration despite cheaper prices in most situations. However, the county and ECUA are taking steps to make the transition smoother by temporarily waiving tipping fees at the landfill, providing the environmental department’s number for those with trash can issues, and ECUA picking up garbage regardless of the can situation at a residence.
During Monday’s SRC Board of County Commissioners meeting, County Administrator Hunter Walker said, “According to ECUA close of business yesterday, there were 15,573 households who signed up for the service, then delivered 12,228 cans, so about 80 percent. They’re working on that today.”
“One of the contingency plans,” Walker said, “moving forward is ECUA committed to pick up garbage from the roadside regardless of what kind of container it is. They will pick up whatever containers there are or even just the bags.” For the county’s part, Walker said, “I do think the action the board could take (would be) to waive any tipping fee at the landfill or at the Jay transfer station for an interim period of time. Let us determine when that is, going through this transition. I think that’s a two-pronged approach in that regard.”
Commission Chairman Don Salter said, “If you’re caught up in this transition and you choose to take your garbage to either one of the landfills you can do so without paying a tipping fee,” after moving to do so without objection.
The county also has an option for those who have not received their cans yet, a problem the board recognized, contacting the county’s environmental department. Salter said, “I encourage anyone who’s had problems to call Tonya at 981-7135 especially those who felt like they signed up two, three weeks ago and they haven’t had a response or a can yet.” Salter also added, “Just for the record, I don’t have my can either.”
Joy Tsubooka, Public Information Officer with Santa Rosa County said the county gave notice three years ago it was looking to franchise waste pickup in the north end of the county. “(We’re) required to give three years notice. At the time, we had no idea we’d be doing recycling like this.” At the time the county started looking to franchise north end garbage pickup, she said the county had no idea West Florida Recycling would go out of business. She said there is accountability now since ECUA has to answer to the county.
County roads will also have to sustain less weight now. Tsubooka said, “The other big issue is there are large trucks on the roads. If you have four different haulers coming down the same street that's a lot of wear and tear on the roads. You typically don't have semis going through residential areas. Your personal automobiles don't have that same wear and tear.” She described the now streamlined service as a “cost savings to the county.”
Waste Pro and Waste Management have franchises in the south end. Tsubooka said, “We franchised the south end first to see how that process worked and see if it was a good fit for our residents. That was successful. Based on that exp (the Board of County Commissioners) moved forward in the north end. They understood this is a large change for our residents. ECUA is going to hire 20 new drivers.”
“The good thing,” Tsubooka said, “about the franchise is that it is a contract, so ECUA is going to be a contractor for the county. There are going to be certain standards they're going to have to operate above. In the past, we have not been able to regulate providers. The franchise fee helps pay for a staff position as a liaison between county and ECUA. We used to get calls about items not getting picked up and the only thing we could do was refer to the (Better Business Bureau). Now they work for us. There's going to be a lot more accountability than there was before.”
Callers to SRPG Speak Out have expressed concern the county ignored the free market in selecting ECUA to service trash collection in the north end of the county. “It was a bidding process,” Tsubooka said. As the county expressed during this process at commission meetings regarding trash collection, small haulers, defined as operating trucks less than 15,000 pounds gross weight, would not be affected. Tsubooka said the haulers at the time of the county’s request for proposal (RFP) for garbage pickup are Allied Waste, Creek Waste and Recycling, J&L Garbage Services, Waste Pro, Waste Management, and Mark Dunning Industries as of July of last year.
Tsubooka said J&L is still collecting garbage under the grandfather clause and said Creek Waste and Recycling may be purchasing trucks to continue operating. She added Waste Pro could go and buy new trucks to continue operating in the north but said it was probably not economical to do so.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: County and ECUA work to smooth transition