Recent reports of delayed and missed garbage pick-ups were addressed by Winter Park City Manager Randy Knight during the May 25 City Commission meeting.
According to Knight, the problem stems from delays in emptying collection trucks at the city’s contracted waste disposal facility, Seminole County Landfill.
“They’ve been having staffing shortages, which have caused the inability of the haulers in the region to dispose of collected waste,” he said. “If you can’t get to your truck you can’t continue your route, that’s what the challenge has been.”
Knight also explained that the city was able to negotiate a waver from the contract with Seminole County Landfill, allowing for the use of other disposal facilities until the problem is addressed. City waste collection contractor WastePro has been authorized to begin hauling to the Orange County Landfill.
“It’s going to cost (the city) more money, but until they get their labor shortages and other issues figured out, I think it’s the only way we can meet the service requirements of our citizens,” Knight said.
According to a spokesperson for the city of Winter Park, the additional cost of temporarily hauling waste to another landfill will not be passed onto customers. However, if the move becomes permanent, or if any permanent solution results in higher disposal costs, the difference would be passed along to the customers at that time.
Residents should begin seeing improvements with the next scheduled collection.