City to test weekly garbage collection
BY VICI PAPAJOHN Gulf Breeze News vici@gulfbreezenews.com

In an attempt to control monthly expense for residents, the City of Gulf Breeze will test offering garbage pickup only once each week beginning Feb. 1.

"We conducted the survey, and the majority of respondents said keeping the price the same was more important than any other service-related question, and so we are going to give this a trial,"explained Mayor Lane Gilchrist. "It will save money."

Curbside and yard garbage collection will be conducted once each week under the new plan, and curbside recycling will be collected every other week. To accommodate for the prolonged schedule, large green-topped Karts will be provided for recycling.

"I think people will adjust," Gilchrist said. "They will recycle more with the larger covered Karts, and will need less garbage pickup. But we can do this as a trial and see."

An additional Kart can be provided for homes that fill more than one each week for $7 per month.

"According to national industry averages, the city pickups have been about half full on our twice weekly pickups. A rule of thumb is 50 pounds per household per lift, and we average only 18-22 up to a high of 26 pounds," explains Steve Milford, Special Projects Manager for the City of Gulf Breeze. "So it looks like instead of empty space in Karts twice each week, we will see full Karts once each week."

"We think the tonnages in recycling will go up as well with the recycling Kart," Gilchrist said. "No sense having trucks running up and down the streets if we don't need them. And if we are wrong and the community has a hard time with this, we can go back to two times each week pickup. We have allowed for that in the contract."