Trash collection in Orange County smoother, but not perfect, homeowners say

Homeowners still adjusting

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Ramon Luna kept checking his new 95-gallon rolling garbage can to see if it had been emptied on Monday. It wasn't.

Shaking his head, standing in his driveway, Luna exclaimed, "Do you believe they picked up the garbage already?!?"

The collectors missed his house.

One week after unincorporated Orange County went to a new automatic-arm, once-a-week pickup system, the County's Solid Waste Division Manager Jim Becker said issues like Luna's are rare but they're still happening.
   
Last week, trash collectors missed entire neighborhoods and spent the weekend catching up.

Becker said he expected a rough transition but hoped it would be smoother. He said four of the county's five collection zones have new contractors who have had to learn the new routes and operate the new trucks with mechanical arms. Becker said it may take 60-90 days for haulers - and homeowners - to adjust.

Some homeowners aren't putting the cans where they should be - at the curb, 3 feet away from mailboxes, light poles, or any other obstacles, Becker said. County workers have even started repositioning cans before the garbage trucks roll through the neighborhoods to speed up the process.

Luna said the pickup schedule change - from twice a week to once a week - is starting to set in. And it stinks, literally, he said.

"That's gonna be nasty," said Luna. "You know, start smelling real bad. As soon as you open the back door you realize there's plenty garbage because the smell gets to you."

Luna said the new cans are so big that he has no choice but to store them in his backyard, which means that rotting food and diapers sit for a week.

"Can you imagine that seven days?" said Margarita Perez. "Now it's cool, wait 'till the summer comes! That cannot be good for our health!"

Becker said several other counties in Central Florida have switched to once-a-week collection because of the cost savings and asked that homeowners in Orange County give it a chance.

Sheryl Reese told News 6 she prefers the single weekly pickup because she gets a larger trash can.

"Well I do like it because I don't have to make three trips from the house to the curb to carry out recycling bins and I have three overflowing bins," said Reese. "Kinda hard in the morning to do that."
Becker said administrative charges were written into the contracts with the new haulers so the county can impose fines if the service doesn't improve.

The county is asking residents to email Solid.Waste@ocfl.net to report any collection issues or if they need roll carts.
 


About the Author:

Erik von Ancken anchors and reports for News 6 and is a two-time Emmy award-winning journalist in the prestigious and coveted "On-Camera Talent" categories for both anchoring and reporting.

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