Dale Martin
City Manager
March 2, 2018 12:00 p.m.
The City Commission conducted a workshop to provide final direction as City staff prepares a proposed contract with its sanitation provider, Advanced Disposal. The current contract with Advanced Disposal expires on June 30. The City solicited proposals from potential vendors, and the City Commission subsequently authorized City staff to negotiate with Advanced Disposal representatives.
City staff sought clarification of three issues: collection frequency, recycling efforts, and downtown collection. In summary, the direction was to basically maintain the same levels of service: twice-weekly solid waste collection, once-weekly recycling collection, once-weekly yard waste collection, and once-weekly bulk collection. As presented to the City, the cost to residents should be a minor decrease.
Recycling is challenging due to the economics of recycling. Glass, the heaviest recyclable, is the least desirable component in the recycling market. Additionally, broken glass contaminates cardboard, rendering that product worthless. As awkward as it seems, the trend appears to be heading in the direction of putting glass in the garbage, not the recycling bin. With little to no market for glass, glass often ends in landfills despite the best intentions.
Downtown is plagued by garbage and recycling containers. The primary concern is that those containers are frequently not pulled back off the sidewalk, contributing to visual (and smelly) blight. Some downtown properties have limited area in which to store the containers. The discussion with City Commissioners and Advanced Disposal representatives led to an idea to develop a decal program to identify containers slated for collection that day and reveal those that had not been properly pulled from the sidewalk and right-of-way. The Commissioners further supported more aggressive code enforcement citations for downtown properties that do not secure garbage containers.
A program offered by Advanced Disposal is roll-out/roll-back. Instead of property owners placing and retrieving containers, the garbage hauler would pull and return the garbage containers. This service does incur an additional cost to the property owner (the daily cost for this service to downtown businesses has yet to be calculated). The City wants to see how voluntary compliance with removing containers works before mandating the roll-out/roll-back service downtown.
Two other ancillary issues also need to be addressed. The first issue drawing significant attention lately is yard waste. The City’s current contract provides for weekly collection of residential yard waste. That service is becoming more and more abused.
Large piles of yard waste and landscaping debris are being routinely dumped on vacant properties or along City streets (in the rights-of-way). It appears as if much of this debris is from landscaping contractors or tree services, including some that collect debris from services outside of the city limits. The residential yard waste collection program is intended for the yard waste generated on a typical residential property- grass clippings, sticks, twigs, an occasional limb, perhaps an unwanted shrub, etc. Mounds of tree debris and stacks of logs is not residential yard waste. The costs of eventual clearing and disposal of those mounds are paid for from City coffers. This dumping is illegal. The most effective way to address this activity is to report such activity when it is happening by calling the Police Department non-emergency number: (904) 225-5174. The City is employing additional methods to counter illegal yard waste, but neighborhood assistance may be the most effective.
Dumpsters have also drawn recent attention. The City Municipal Code requires that dumpsters be maintained and clean, and also enclosed and landscaped on three sides. Surveys have indicated that many dumpsters throughout the City are not in compliance with the regulations. Many dumpsters also appear to be improperly located within the rights-of-way.
City staff will work with business organizations such as Main Street and the Chamber of Commerce to develop and implement a plan to bring dumpsters into compliance with the City Code. This effort will likely provide substantial time (90-120 days) for dumpster owners to meet the necessary requirements. This effort will be well-publicized to ensure that this effort is instituted in a timely and consistent manner.
Most of our garbage services are conducted uneventfully. Thousands of collections are made weekly with minimal (but not none) issues. We tend to notice garbage collection when it doesn’t work as planned (like water and sewer issues)- we take many things for granted. I know that Advanced Disposal plans to employ community outreach efforts to improve their service to Fernandina Beach. I expect that a new contract with Advanced Disposal will be presented to the City Commission sometime in April.