Curbside recycling pickup to return to Jacksonville next week

Here’s what residents need to know

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Curbside recycling pickup will return to Jacksonville next week.

Here’s what will happen:

  • Recycling drop-off sites will close this week. Thursday is the last day residents can dump their recycling at those places.
  • Starting Monday, the city will resume curbside recycling. Service will be once every two weeks, so not everyone’s recycling will be picked up during the first week.
  • Residents can call 904-630-CITY (2489) to find out what day recycling will resume in their area. Or, if you go to MyJax and enter your address on the map, it will tell you when your scheduled recycling day is, as well as your scheduled trash and yard waste pickup.
  • The same items, such as glass, will still be recycled for now. That could change later this year after Jacksonville City Council members come up with new recommendations about garbage. For now, you can find a full list of which items will be recycled and which will not, along with a list of other rules for trash, bulk items and yard waste, here.

RELATED: How to find out your pickup day when recycling resumes in Jacksonville

News4JAX spoke with several people dumping off recycled goods who said it’s time for recycling to come back.

“We collect it. We bring it down. We live close by and put it in here,” said Linda Dinsmore. “They’ve been very good about keeping the bins cleans.”

A man at a recycling drop-off site on the Southside -- who requested that we only use his first name, James -- has been watching closely how the city has been handling the garbage mess and said he’s been complaining to the mayor and others.

“They have not got a plan to fix what let us into that we had to have the centers here. And I think that is egregious,” he said.

He thinks much of it is political, even though the city says the reason it suspended curbside recycling in October is because sanitation workers and drivers have left in droves because there are higher-paying jobs elsewhere.

The whole idea behind halting recycling was so the city could concentrate efforts on other garbage such as yard waste.

But on the Westside, News4JAX found six weeks’ worth of yard waste that hasn’t been picked up throughout an entire neighborhood. Those residents want to know how this is going to get any better now that recycling is coming back.

Eddie Vega lives on Justin Road in that Westside neighborhood. News4JAX saw bags of yard waste outside his home that apparently have been there for a while. We asked him what it’s been like since the city halted curbside recycling, and he said it had gotten “worse.”

News4JAX reported his problem and other areas on the Westside near Oakleaf to the city on Tuesday, and the city is looking into it and will contact the private haulers responsible for the area.


About the Author:

Jim Piggott is the reporter to count on when it comes to city government and how it will affect the community.