All your garbage ends up at Pasco County’s waste to energy facility in Spring Hill.
It fills up with 1050 tons of a trash every day!
But so much of the garage could be recycled.
“If you have twice a week garbage pick up, you are already paying for your recycling service. You just have to use it,” said recycling coordinator Jennifer Seney.
Pasco recycles less than 2% of all residential trash.
And because not enough people are recycling, Pasco County is faced with the need to add another boiler to this facility.
That would cost $190 million, adding about $30 to your yearly trash bill.
Officials said the county’s recycling program isn’t the issue.
But maybe enough people just don’t know its there.
“I think part of it can be making the population more familiar with the opportunities to recycle,” said assistant county administrator Flip Mellinger.
You can recycle, cans, bottles, and small plastic items, paper and cardboard. And put it all in the same container.
Among the things you need to leave out, plastic bags because they get tangled and cause all kinds of issues.
And you can use just about any kind of container, just put a recycling stickers on and leave it curb side on recycling day.
“I can tell you in my household, my recycle bin fills up before my garage does,” said Mellinger.
The county is doing a survey to ask citizens about the recycling program, so they can make any needed improvements and get more people involved.
Less than 30% of Pasco County households use curbside recycling.
To take the survey click HERE.
