Commissioner Provides Garbage Collection Update

Ed. Note: The north end of unincorporated Lake County has been experiencing several months of disjointed garbage collection. Lake County continues to work to smooth over the rough edges in its curbside service provided by its new hauler, and this week Leslie Campione, whose district covers much of North Lake County, provided an update regarding the county’s efforts.
   By Leslie Campione, Lake County Commissioner - District 4
   To say it has been a difficult transition from the county's last trash hauler to the current hauler (FCC) is an understatement. It has been nothing less than a miserable and exasperating experience. To explain how we got here sounds like I'm making excuses for unacceptable service and customer relations, but it is really important to consider that the alternative was to essentially discontinue curbside trash pick-up in NE Lake County for 6 to 8 months, and to make matters even worse, once service was reinstated it would likely cost residents double or triple the current rate. This would have required residents to regularly haul their own trash to Astatula or the convenience centers in Astor, Paisley, or Pine Lakes or to personally hire a contractor to haul their trash at a much higher cost than the approximately $16.00 a month residents currently pay for weekly curbside service (which is supposed to include weekly pickup of kitchen trash, yard waste, and recycling).
   I realize many of us have not been getting regular or predictable service since early October. But in most instances when a resident notifies the County directly that they have been overlooked by FCC  (garbagecollection@lakecountyfl.gov or 352-343-3776), the county staff files the complaint with FCC and the trash is usually picked upon within a few days or soon, but there have been way too many times it has taken much longer. If the hauler fails to respond after several attempts by the County, then Lake County Public Works is dispatched with a flatbed truck to pick up uncollected garbage. This is an unsustainable system but the majority of trash has been getting picked up (albeit slowly and with a lot of aggravation) and the county has been able to avoid a total shut-down of curbside service and hopefully prevented unlawful dumping to some degree.
     I am glad to report it appears we are turning a new corner and as of last week FCC has added more trucks which they now own instead of leasing temporary trucks, and they have more drivers than any time since they started, they've hired a new route supervisor and they have implemented new software that tracks routes and highlights addresses that have not been serviced. Within the first week of implementing these changes, the county experienced a 50% drop in complaints. The most critical thing that customers can do at this point is to report missed pick-ups to the county email address: garbage@lakecountyfl.gov. This is the only way we can make sure that overlooked addresses are getting inputted into FCC’s new software and route maps.
     If you are interested in the back-story, it is important to know that most haulers take at least 12 months to prepare route maps before actually beginning a new service area. During this process, they test various routes before determining the most efficient way to collect everyone's trash within a one-week period. In the case of FCC, they had to begin collecting trash within 90 days of executing a contract with the County and the maps available to FCC were outdated and incomplete. Communities across Florida are having the same problems with reliable trash collection service which has resulted from rising costs and shortages of vehicles and drivers. Polk County recently went so far as to declare a State of Emergency due to their hauler (Waste Management) not being able to perform due to impacts from the hurricanes in South Florida.
     When FCC started in October 2022, they soon found out they did not have enough drivers or trucks to complete the complex and diverse routes in NE Lake County within a one-week period, nor did they have the right type of trucks to successfully navigate sugar sand and dirt roads in some rural areas. Once a large garbage truck gets stuck it usually takes that truck out of commission for an entire day at a minimum. This entire situation was compounded by two hurricanes and holiday schedules, and when routes were missed or homes were not found by the driver, FCC did not have an adequate system to take complaints so it was impossible to let them know if your home had been missed which resulted in total aggravation and chaos. At that point, the county set up its own call center with multiple phone lines and an email address was established so that residents could send an email when their home was missed for one or all of the weekly services. Many residents sent emails or called the county's call center and those addresses were logged into FCC's routing maps, and gradually service began to improve in many locations. But with each hole plugged it seemed a new one developed. Those who called FCC directly would often become more aggravated and angry, and by the time they called the county directly several weeks had gone by.
     Some residents have insisted that the county terminate the FCC contract for non-performance, but the result of doing that would take us back to square one: we would all lose curbside service and if we could find another hauler, they would have to re-tool and hire new drivers and establish their own route system.  This is why county staff has tried to work with FCC to help them close the gaps, identify the roads or homes that are being missed (some regularly missed and others occasionally missed) and identify how many more trucks and drivers are necessary. Finally, I think we may all start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
     As of last week, FCC implemented new software to assist drivers with finding customers and completing their routes each day and they notified the county they had purchased additional vehicles and were no longer leasing temporary trucks, and they had acquired 3 "pup" (4 x 4) trucks for rural areas with dirt roads and additional truck is on order, and they had replaced their route manager. The good news (finally) is that within three days of implementing the software, the number of complaints had dropped by over 50%. The county had been receiving about 1000 complaints a day of missed households and as of late last week the number was down to 300 in one day. That is not acceptable for the long term, but as long as we know where the "missed" households are as a result of them sending an email or calling the county call center, we can assure FCC knows of the location of these households and modifies their route maps accordingly.
     To that end, if your collection day is missed (for kitchen trash, recycling, or yard waste), please send an email to:
garagecollection@lakecountyfl.gov. If you do not have access to email, please call 352-343-3776. You may copy me (leslie.campione@lakecountyfl.gov) so that I can track your complaint and follow up with county staff. If you get frustrated and decide to haul your own trash or debris, please send an email message first so that your complaint is duly recorded. Convenience Centers are open 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. as follows:  Paisley is open on Wednesday and Saturday; Astor is open on Tuesday and Saturday; Pine Lakes is open on Thursday and Saturday; and Astatula is open Monday through Saturday.
**We have had a lot of questions about whether recycling is being discontinued. There is currently not a market for recyclable items which generally means the cost of collecting recyclables cannot be offset by the revenue for selling this material. Since rates for trash collection are increasing on a pretty regular basis, perhaps savings could be achieved by eliminating a separate collection of recyclables during the times when there is no longer a market, but the downside is that people get out of the habit of separating their recyclables and they have less room in their regular bins. For now, no changes are being implemented without regard to curbside collection of recyclables but the issue is being evaluated based on costs and benefits. Maybe we will find a more efficient and effective way to recycle and save money as we go through this evaluation.
     Sincerely, Leslie Campione
   Lake County Commissioner, District 4