POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Polk County is declaring a local state of emergency for the second time this year, to fix a persistent trash pickup problem.
County Commissioners said they have received thousands of complaints from residents about trash not being picked up in parts of Polk County.
In 2017, Polk County signed a seven-year contract with trash hauler Advanced Disposal, a company that was bought by Waste Management.
WM which is one of the biggest garbage companies in the world, handles trash and recycling collection on the east side of the county. FCC Environmental Services, handles the west side.
Commissioners said FCC has improved its service within the last month, but missed collections have become more frequent in the area covered by WM.
“We’ve had situations last year, last summer where whole neighborhoods would be missed for weeks at a time and some point that starts to become a public health issue, if not maybe even a public health crisis if you don’t deal with it. So, we’re trying to get county administration to understand that this a real problem,” said Neil Combee, District 5 Commissioner.
WM said it has been dealing with a shortage of trucks and repairs being delayed by global supply-chain issues. They also said Hurricane Ian has caused increased demand in waste pickup in southwest Florida.
“We had close to 80 trucks that were impacted by the storm surge in the Ft. Myers area. When you take that many trucks out of commission, it impacts operations throughout the state as we try to move trucks around,” said Dawn McCormick, spokesperson for Waste Management.
The local state of emergency will enable the county to contract with other companies more quickly to help in trash collection without having to go through the normal bidding process.
WM said they are working to address these challenges, and they expect to be in full service, meeting all of its routes, within the next 60 days.
