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County Wants To Take Over Trash Business In Entire County, Century
January 16, 2009
There are currently four government bodies in Escambia County involved in solid waste management, but the county commission would like to see that become just one — the county itself.
Currently, solid waste disposal is handled by the Town of Century, the City of Pensacola, the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) and Escambia County. The county wants to see the four operationally combined for the collection, transportation and disposal of waste.
A plan presented to commissioners Thursday morning by Sandy Jennings (pictured left), the county’s director of the Department of Solid Waste Management, calls for the “consolidation of countywide waste management activities to assure effective provision of services to all county citizens”. The plan would lead to the elimination of “wasteful duplication of services”, and a “consistent sold waste service for every citizen”. In addition, just one entity would responsible for cost-effective and environmentally responsible solid waste management.
” I propose that we do all that we can to support staff in creating a consolidated, integrated solid waste system,” Commissioner Grover Robinson, who was not present at Thursday’s commission meeting, wrote in a memo to his fellow commissioners. Such as system will truly elevate the overall value to the citizens and protect their interests, not the interests of any single entity which may be part of the process
“I personally think Escambia County needs to take a lead because we have the biggest piece of this, and that’s the landfill,” Commissioner Wilson Robertson. “The county needs to be the prime player in this.”
“I couldn’t agree more. That way when I get the phone calls complaining about the ECUA, I’ll actually be able to do something about it,” Commissioner Kevin White said.
“If we are going to get all of the calls and complaints, we should be running maybe the collection along with the landfill,” Robertson said.
The commission directed county staff to form a task force to begin finalizing a countywide solid waste plan to be considered by the board at a future date. The task force is to include members from Pensacola, Century, ECUA, the private sector, citizens at large and the county.The study is expected to be completed within six months.
Under the plan, the county’s Perdido Landfill would serve as the cornerstone of the solid waste system, utilizing permitted infrastructure, ensuring continuing revenue for the landfill, and securing long-term capacity for the county’s solid waste needs.
In addition, the county’s recycling facility would save valuable space in the landfill, and provide “all county citizens the opportunity to do the right thing for the environment”. A curbside recycling program exists for ECUA customers and in a very small portion of the City of Pensacola. Most Pensacola and Century residents do not have the opportunity to use curbside recycling.
The plan would position Escambia County as the final authority in terms of enacting and enforcing public policy related to solid waste planning.
Pictured top: The Perdido Landfill.
Comments
7 Responses to “County Wants To Take Over Trash Business In Entire County, Century”
I would like to thank Ms. Jennings for bring this problem to the commissioners. I have made several phone calls and it is always you need to call someone else. We need one department to be responsible. I live in north escambia and know that I can call Kevin White and something will be done. The Board of County Commissioners is exactly what we need to run the garbage service and recycling in this county.No one wants a landfill in there back yard when this site is full a new site will be looked for just like the sewage treatment that is coming to cantonment and escambia river cant wait to eat those fish. I hope the county can take control of the garbage and increase there recycling. we do not need to move the landfill.I have toured the landfill operation and was amazed at what was going on there. To learn more about the landfill go to http://www.escambiarecycles.com click the picture take a tour or call for a tour. I voted for my commissioner I support my commissioner.
I say bring back Allied Waste. I had to deal with ECUA the other day for the first time in 10 years. It didn’t take me long after talking with customer service to remember why I hated dealing with ECUA back then…… and still not solutions today for me!
The County is the LAST entity that should “take over” ANY other entity! That’s just down right laughable! They so need to get over their power trip and realize we will all see this as another power grab by the County aimed at making them money. If they were truly interested in the welfare of the citizens they would get out of the garbage all together. They use that landfill to bleed the citizens and claim it’s the cities and ECUA that are the problem. When the County was forced to lower taxes, they made up for lost revenue by highjacking the garbage and using strong-armed robbery tactics to balloon their fees and get their greedy little hands further in our pockets. I’d like to know where they’d intend to come up with the cash to fund this idea. As far as I know, the County has no trucks or crews or cans and it would take a massive outlay of cash to get those things. Seems to me, all they have is a hole in the ground. Why not lease it out to ECUA and cut the whole County sanitation dept and SAVE money while MAKING money? That’s the sort of fiscal responsibility voters were looking for when we voted last November. Perhaps we haven’t finished cleaning house and still need more fresh blood on the commission…
Elizabeth, you have to understand the workings of a landfill to understand. Apparently you aren’t privvy to those workings. There is a convience dump site in Oak Grove, there are several dirt pits in North Escambia where the Road Department gets their dirt for repairs, and what-have-yous. Needless to say, Sandy is an extremely intelligent woman and believe me she knows what she is doing. I don’t foresee a landfill in North Escambia, it wouldn’t be economical.
I see a future landfill in north Escambia county, once they find a reason not to use Perdido any more.
Good job. Take something else away from Century. I like the idea. Soon they won’t have anything left to mess up and fight over. Might as well get a county road crew to take down their city limit signs. We would all be better off. I’ll get my wrench and meet you there.
Absolutely a good idea! I’m fairly new to the county and I was appalled to read that there are so many entities responsible for solid waste here (thank you North Escambia.com News!) I wonder just how much time is lost on a yearly basis just by people calling the wrong entity to complain and those people having to call back and say “it’s not our district!”
Put one person and one entity in charge, let the buck stop there for the good or the bad of it. Give all of the people in the county one contact number to call for all issues concerned with solid waste.