Clearwater, Florida, regroups after failure to recycle since June

Clearwater, Florida, has failed to recycle any materials since June 2022, the city writes in a Jan. 12 news release.

Instead of routing recyclables to a nearby material recovery facility operated by Houston-based WM, the recyclables were sent to the Pinellas County Solid Waste Disposal Complex, which includes a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant, according to Interim City Manager Jennifer Poirrier.

The apparent communications breakdown led to the resignation of the city’s assistant solid waste director, city officials tell the Tampa Bay Times. Longtime director Earl Gloster retired in November, the paper reports.

As of this week, the city of Clearwater says it is taking recyclables to WM for processing daily as a short-term solution and is working on a more affordable and sustainable long-term solution.

Reasons provided by the solid waste department for this process change in June vary from staffing issues to equipment failure. At no time was city administration briefed on the situation or brought in to troubleshoot possible solutions nor was the public made aware of this change, the city says.

The city says it became aware of the problem during the fall when there were questions about it on social media in October followed by a letter from WM saying it would no longer serve as the processor of the city’s recyclables.

“The city of Clearwater has professed to be stewards of the environment. We have adopted Greenprint 2.0 and have hired an energy consultant to help us reduce our energy usage in city buildings,” Poirrier says. “Our actions as stewards of the public’s money spent on our recycling program has not matched what we said we stand for, and that is not acceptable. We have also not been open and transparent with our residents.”

Although she tells the Tampa Bay Times she’s not yet sure how many tons of recyclable materials was transported to the WTE facility, the city collected 9,600 tons of recyclables in 2018, according to the city’s website.

“Due to the current challenges facing domestic municipal recycling programs, residents can make the most impact by reducing their waste and decreasing contamination in the recycling stream,” Poirrier says. “The mantra ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle’ has ‘recycle’ listed last for a reason. The most impact we can have is by reducing our waste.”

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