ECUA Expanding Weekly Garbage Pickup Services

July 20, 2012

The Emerald Coast Utilities Authority is adding services to weekly garbage service beginning August 1

Big items that won’t fit the garbage can — things like furniture and appliances — will be picked up as part of the regular weekly service August 1 with no need to call-in. Until now, bulky waste pickups have been limited to once a month with customers required to call in advance.

Bulk waste items need to be placed at the curb by 5:30 a.m. on a customer’s regular pickup day.

ECUA will also significantly increase the amount of yard waste that can be put out for each week’s collection.   After August 1, ECUA will accept two piles six feet wide, six feet deep and six feet high. In addition to the two piles of yard waste, ECUA will also accept up to 20 plastic trash bags or cans of vegetative matter such as leaves, pine straw, grass clippings and small prunings.

Yard waste items should be place at the curb by 5:30 a.m. on a customer’s regular trash day.

For more information, see the insert in your July ECUA bill, visit www.ecua.fl.gov, or call ECUA customer service at (850) 476-0480.

Comments

17 Responses to “ECUA Expanding Weekly Garbage Pickup Services”

  1. Norman on July 24th, 2012 8:49 am

    Nathalie. have you seen some of the items that people throw out and expect to be picked up. If you don’t set a weight limit on some of the items the workers are going to revolt.

  2. Jane on July 21st, 2012 10:28 am

    PNJ has always stunk. They are also biased in their reporting.

    Now, the ECUA …………… be prepared for a rate hike to pay for this extra nice thing they are doing for “us”. We had a rate hike yrs ago to pay for the nice trucks they bought to pick up yard trash. It was not long before they went back to a person picking up the yard trash. Now they are “blessing” us again. Be prepared, we will pay for this too. lol nothing is free!

  3. Shirley Green on July 20th, 2012 9:27 pm

    Will wood scraps and unused timber like 2×4’s be picked up its bulk waste or still charged the $29. Minimum?

  4. UHG>>> on July 20th, 2012 7:37 pm

    Wow maybe now my neighbors junk that’s been sitting buy their cans for over a month will get picked up………

  5. dad on July 20th, 2012 6:04 pm

    This is great news and will be a big help to my family. Thanks ECUA.

    You just can’t make some people happy.

  6. Norman on July 20th, 2012 6:03 pm

    Why and how can this newspaper deliever more and accurate news than the PNJ? Is it political? Are folks being paid off not to report the facts? Something is very wrong in the reporting practices of the PNJ. What are they? Who is responsible? We are entitled to the same facts as are delievered by this newspaper. Does this paper pay more? Where is the answer?

  7. D HEIST on July 20th, 2012 4:49 pm

    That’s why I go to NorthEscambia.com everyday to get my news. Thanks for keeping us informed.

  8. Nathalie Bowers, ECUA Public Information on July 20th, 2012 3:34 pm

    Per William’s request, I am adding this information:

    We will now collect two (instead of one) 6’ W x 6’ D x 6’ H piles of bulk items weekly.

  9. Matt on July 20th, 2012 3:34 pm

    How about bringing back twice a week pick up for household garbage.The flies and rodents have about quadrupled and frankly Im tired of spending money on flybags and rat traps.Cutting down to once a week sure saved you guys a heap but you have created a plague among sorts

  10. Nathalie Bowers, ECUA Public Information on July 20th, 2012 2:54 pm

    For History Nutz- The items we accept for our Bulk Waste Program are: Furniture, such as: Couch, Mattress, Desk, Chairs, Dresser; Rugs; Carpets; Vacuum Cleaners; Bicycles; Bags of clothes; Grills; toilets, lawnmowers, etc.

    Additionally, we have a Recycling Bulk program that accepts more items. If you haven’t signed up yet for our voluntary recycling service, which is included as part of your residential service, please consider it. It’s a wonderful program.
    You can also get more information on our website at http://www.ecua.fl.gov

    Bulk Items Recycling Program includes:

    • Car and Truck Tires • Household electronics
    (No Equipment Tires) including:
    • Car and Truck batteries • Flat Screen & CRT TVs
    • 20 lb. Propane tanks • Flat Panel & CRT Computer monitors

    • Appliances
    • Large amounts of cardboard • Computers: Desktop,
    • Copy machines, VCRs, Laptop & tablets
    • CD players, Stereos, Radios, • Computer Parts: Keyboard,
    Tape players, Telephones, Mouse, Printer, Scanner,
    Cell phones, Video games, Fax machines.
    Rechargeable batteries.

  11. History Nutz on July 20th, 2012 2:34 pm

    Was wondering if the new service, in addition to “things like furniture and appliances”, will include pickup of electronic items: TV’s, computer monitors, deskop & laptop computers? Thank you for any additional information of items which will be included. Thank you,ECUA, for your service.

  12. Nathalie Bowers , ECUA Public Information on July 20th, 2012 2:01 pm

    Thank you all for the kind words. We are excited to be able to provide this expanded service, which provides more convenience to our customers and in turn will do more to help keep our community clean. We’re able to offer this extra service from the savings that will be realized by switching to vehicles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG).

    for Hobby– If you brought garbage cans for disposal somewhere, I’m thinking it was at the Perdido landfill. That is a County-operated facility, not part of the ECUA. Similarly, since ECUA is a special district of the state, we are separate from County government and do not operate on tax revenue. We operate on the rates set for the services we provide (water, sewer, and sanitation collection). As such, funds could not be transfered to the school district.

    For norman: We are confident that it will work out fine– we have been providing this service for many years, once a month, to our customers. We anticipate a flurry of activity in the beginning but actually, with the ability to put items out each week, the individual loads will be smaller over time. Jerry A is right, we have a claw truck that facilitates the job — all should work out well.

    We’ll certainly want to hear if you note any issues or problems and we always appreciate feedback.

  13. Hobby on July 20th, 2012 10:37 am

    Whose looking for your vote. Can’t wait to see who clams this great deed for the poor folks. Last time I carried four garbage cans with lids they wanted to charge me $5.00 because the load wasn’t tarped. Can’t last after elections. Ecua will stop the service or charge more for the service. But maby that’s where that BP windfall is going to be used. Or they need to make us poor folks feel good about thoes new fancy trucks. Yep. Spend more on garbage collection then cut school budgets. Why not transfer there excess to something to help education. The old collection worked fine.

  14. optimism, not pessimism on July 20th, 2012 10:19 am

    I don’t think junk cars qualify as furniture or appliances. As long as you use common sense, I think things will be fine. And much more convenient for everyone involved. Only hoping this doesn’t come with a price increase down the road. Thank you ECUA for making things a bit simpler!

  15. Jerry A on July 20th, 2012 9:25 am

    Norman the last time that I had bulk items picked up, it was just one person in a truck that had a claw type crane on the back. He had no problem lifting the sofa and refrigerator into the back of the truck.

  16. norman on July 20th, 2012 9:07 am

    ECUa better hire some pretty big men. I can only imagine what some households will be putting out. Do junk cars qualify? This is going to be a very messy operation and rules need to be put in place as to exactly what the resident needs to do to get the junk picked up. Sorry guys but you know its coming.

  17. Thankful on July 20th, 2012 9:06 am

    This is a very good move thank you E.C.U.A