PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The day after the ABC Action News I-Team asked why Pinellas County had just one dump site for commercial haulers to take storm debris, two more locations have opened for the unincorporated areas of the county.
Tuesday, the owners of local hauling companies contacted the I-Team, saying they had never been turned away from the county dump for storm debris. Furthermore, there was confusion about where to go and complications about what debris would be accepted at the new designated site.
RELATED: 'That's never happened': Pinellas County closes main dump to storm debris as trash piles up
Wednesday morning, Pinellas County Director of Public Words Kelli Hammer Levy said they had a lot of commercial haulers requesting information. I-Team Investigator Kylie McGivern brought some of those questions to Levy.
McGivern: “On Tuesday, the county’s main dump site stopped accepting storm debris from commercial haulers — why was that decision made and who made that decision?”
Levy: “This is a FEMA requirement for our process, so in order to remain eligible for reimbursement through FEMA, we can only accept debris from the unincorporated area. And so yes, commercial haulers were hauling from — we have no idea where — and coming there. There are sites where commercial haulers can take their materials to and that’s why we’ve been sharing that information out, we have fliers at those sites and we’re handing that information to the commercial haulers so they do know where to go, again we are working, actively working, the county is working on resources for commercial haulers because obviously we have a lot of debris and we have a lot of debris needs and as soon as those resources are available, we’ll continue to update and provide that information.”
McGivern: “So there is one location right now for commercial haulers in all of Pinellas County, are you saying the county plans to add additional locations, so it’s more than just one?”
Levy: “There’s not just one, there’s several, it’s on the website, they accept different types of debris, so you have to understand what type of debris, some of them only accept C&D, and then there are some that accept metals from white goods and things like that, so they have different certifications through the state to accept that debris so they have to work within their area. But we do understand that commercial debris is a challenge and there is a team working on evaluating what our options are.”
*NOTE: Two more locations were added for commercial haulers on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the I-Team was provided one location.
Pinellas County: Sand and Storm Debris Cleanup
McGivern: “And FEMA, they made the decision for it to be this way? Because at least commercial haulers we’ve spoken with, have said this is different than in the past, where they couldn’t come directly to the county site.”
Levy: “The sites that we have set up for unincorporated, and this is the FEMA reimbursement process, we have to document where that debris came from and the county serves that unincorporated areas, so that’s how we have to document that. As far as solid waste, as in the landfill and the waste energy plant, that’s a separate function of the county and so they do not accept this debris. But we do understand at the county level that commercial debris is a challenge and we’re actively looking at what our options are to help support that community.”
The chief operating officer for Big Yellow Dumpster Inc., a family business based in St. Petersburg, contacted the I-Team after seeing Tuesday's investigation.
“I feel like the counties and the cities didn’t have a good preparation for the aftermath. They told us all to prepare for the storm surge, they told us all to be ready. And I feel like they weren’t necessarily ready," CFO Katherine Lallamant said.
Lallamant said the locations provided by the county only accept items from unincorporated parts of the county and some are limited in what they take.
“We can use Angelo’s for construction debris dumpsters, but it has to be just construction debris, it can’t have any food, any household items, just construction materials, they’re very strict about that," Lallamant said.
Lallamant told the I-Team that days later, she's still struggling to get clarity.
"Nobody can give me any answers, I’ve only had two cities call me back out of the eight cities I called Monday afternoon, trying to get ahead of it when that email went out, only two have called me back and most had no idea the dump was going to close to storm debris that day," Lallamant said. "Find somewhere else to take it and deal with it, is basically what I was told.”
Lallamant said she is looked out to the end of next week with a waiting list of people who want to clean up — but she's having to tell people they're trying to find where to dump the debris they've already collected, to free up bins.
"Our hands are tied," she said.
Lallamant said, ultimately, this isn't just affecting her business. It's impacting people's ability to move forward.
“It’s terrible because these people can’t clean up and start to move on. They’re stuck staring at this debris. And unless they cart it all out to the street, and hope for the county or city to come soon, there’s so many people," Lallamant said. “They’re only so big, they can only do so much in a day, and there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of residents that need assistance. And if they can’t help us help them, get it cleaned up, it just seems like it’s not fair for those people that are suffering already. You know, they can’t clean up, they can’t move on, they’re just kind of in limbo themselves.”
The county said, "... we're supporting our cities as they develop their own plans," but so far, the I-Team does not have additional details.
County begins storm debris pickup
Wednesday morning, Pinellas County began its own efforts to help homeowners with storm debris, sending trucks to some of the hardest hit unincorporated areas, including Crystal Beach, Ozona, West Palm Harbor, unincorporated Seminole and West Lealman.
"At this time, the county is exploring opportunities to support debris removal work with communities on private roads within the unincorporated County that suffered the greatest hurricane damage. Private roads are generally outside of county purview as they are privately maintained and do not necessarily meet the access standards for public roads," Senior Public Relations Coordinator Tony Fabrizio told the I-Team.
Visit the county's website to learn more about when you can anticipate pickup and important information about how to sort your debris so it is collected.
Pinellas County: Sand and Storm Debris Cleanup
This story started with a tip. If you have something you'd like the I-Team to investigate, contact Kylie:
