City bringing in new company to handle trash, recycling in some parts of Jacksonville

3 years ago 269

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Problems with trash pickup are making it harder for thousands of radical astir Northeast Florida to spell greenish with curbside recycling.

The metropolis of Jacksonville is astir to bring successful a caller institution to grip trash and recycling successful immoderate parts of Jacksonville.

Right now, Republic Services picks up the recycling bins successful Northwest Jacksonville and crossed parts of the Northside and Arlington. But, by the extremity of the month, different company, Meridian, volition instrumentality over.

Next to overflowing trash bins and piles of gait discarded successful Northwest Jacksonville are recycling bins that residents accidental person yet to beryllium picked up by the city.

Clifton Sanders lives successful Northwest Jacksonville and says his street’s pickup has been delayed for weeks.

“Recycle has been a small precocious being picked up. In the past 2 weeks, they’ve been picking up recycle regularly, and the trash, they haven’t picked it up successful implicit a month,” Sanders said.

Republic Services was contracted by the metropolis to grip residential coagulated discarded pickup successful parts of the city, including Sanders’ neighborhood.

The metropolis says hiring and keeping employees has been a problem. The metropolis gave News4Jax the fig of recycling pickup complaints it has received successful the past six months crossed the metropolis — astir 1,700 successful April, past 3,400 successful May, astir 1,000 each successful June and July, with a spike successful August of much than 4,600 complaints. And halfway done the period of September, determination are already much than 3,500 complaints astir recycling pickup crossed Jacksonville.

The metropolis has confirmed that Meridian volition beryllium taking implicit pickups successful the Republic Services territory astatine the extremity of the month.

News4Jax got this connection from Republic Services:

“Republic Services of Jacksonville is experiencing immoderate impermanent delays with gait and bulk discarded collections successful our work country wrong Duval County. We admit our customers’ knowing and patience during this time.

“Many industries are facing staffing challenges astatine this time, and the biology services manufacture is nary different. We are cautiously monitoring the needs of our customers and communities with the proviso and availability of our endowment and adjusting our efforts to attract, prosecute and clasp endowment accordingly.

“We are ever recruiting and hiring large radical to articulation our team, and connection a competitory salary, generous benefits, paid vacation, information bonuses, and galore vocation advancement opportunities. For much information, delight sojourn https://republicservices.jobs.”

Jacksonville isn’t unsocial erstwhile it comes to challenges with recycling.

St. Augustine Beach announced Thursday that it volition temporarily suspend residential recycling pickups connected Monday, Oct. 4. The past week of pickups volition beryllium the past week successful September. The metropolis besides blames unprecedented labour shortages and is moving to bring the recycling programme in-house.

Clay County has besides faced challenges with recycling. It suspended curbside recycling successful overmuch of the region successful mid-August. The region told News4Jax that it is successful interaction with its contractor, Waste Management, erstwhile a month, but the institution is inactive dealing with staffing issues.

Waste Management sent News4Jax this statement:

“Currently Clay County is the lone determination Waste Management has suspended curbside recycling postulation successful an effort to nonstop our resources to garbage and gait discarded service. Unfortunately, similar galore industries, biology services are being impacted by the nationwide labour shortage. To specifically code labour shortages, we have:

“Improved Compensation: Increasing pay, offering sign-on and retention bonuses and worker referral bonuses

“Offered Innovative Employee Benefits: In collaboration with Guild Education, we’re offering the first-of-its-kind programme providing WM employees, arsenic good arsenic their eligible dependents, the accidental to take from a afloat scope of acquisition options, including earning a assemblage degree, astatine nary outgo to the employee

“Ramped-up our Training Centers: Increasing in-person people sizes (reduced owed to COVID) to bid much caller drivers much quickly, portion inactive adhering to each due safely protocols

“We genuinely apologize for the inconvenience and admit our customers knowing arsenic we enactment done these bonzer circumstances truthful we tin instrumentality to our regular postulation service.”

News4Jax reached retired to Meridian for a remark but had not heard backmost arsenic of publication.

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