WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – Winter Garden is expected to move forward with a new trash contract a year after canceling curbside recycling — and that updated deal still does not include recycling.
Plant Street Recycling stepped in to fill the gap after the city scrapped curbside pickup because of rising costs. In the past year, the volunteer-run effort says it has kept more than 100,000 pounds of recyclables out of the trash in Winter Garden.
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“We started with our neighborhood… I think we had 37 homes on that first pickup,” organizer Robert Montgomery said. “We are getting very close to 500 now.”
Even with that growth, Winter Garden is expected to renew its trash contract with Waste Management — meaning curbside recycling still will not return through the city.
“There is so much opportunity here,” Montgomery said. “There’s tens of thousands of homes just in the city alone… if we can impact 500, we can go from 500 to 5,000.”
Downtown, some residents say recycling isn’t top of mind.
“It’s something people overlook,” David Brady said. “I think the majority of them don’t really have a say either way… just let it go and go with the flow.”
Others argue recycling should be a basic service across every neighborhood.
“Every house should have a recycle bin so that… keeps the neighborhood clean,” Gary Giffin said.
Several other Central Florida cities have also considered scaling back or eliminating recycling because of the cost. On Monday, Ocala transitioned from curbside recycling collection to a citywide recycling drop-off program.