JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The City of Jacksonville announced a new recycling drop-off center at 7000 Imeson Road to help with the pileup of recyclables at the other existing sites.
It’s now been a full week since Mayor Lenny Curry announced he would suspend curbside pickup.
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At William Sheffield Regional Park, recyclables and other trash piled around the site’s four dumpsters.
Action News Jax noticed the dumpsters at Earl Johnson Memorial Park and Fort Family Regional Park also overflowed. The Riverside Park drop-off site was kept clean.
”I didn’t want to put my stuff out there,” Arthur Ivey said at Sheffield Park. “I feel like I’m adding to the problem.” In a statement, a representative for the City of Jacksonville said, “These are being emptied every evening Monday through Saturday. In addition, there are city trash trucks that go behind to clear the area as well.”
Action News Jax did see a trash truck empty the dumpsters at Sheffield Park Monday afternoon. However, by sunset it was overflowing again.
”You can see people dropping off now, and all it’s doing is building and building and building,” Darrell Bassham said. “If a rainstorm or something else comes along, who knows where all this goes.”
Mayor Curry announced curbside suspension to help crews catch up with a backlog of yard waste pickups.
The week before the suspension, there were 2,955 missed pickups. The week after the suspension, there were 2,654, which is about a 10% drop.
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Some neighbors said they understand it will take time.
Matt Carlucci, the councilmember for At Large Group 4, said he wants to explore a credit to taxpayers for lost services.
Yard waste and recycling pickup is a fee-driven service that averages up to $190 annually.
While the veteran councilmember admits it’s not an easy fix, he said he wants to review the options. He said the mayor’s office is against issuing any kind of credit.