CLEARWATER, Fla. — A hot topic took center stage at the Clearwater City Council meeting Thursday evening about recycling. During the last six months of 2022, recycling was picked up, and taken to the landfill with the rest of the trash.
All the while, Clearwater residents paid $3.80 a month for recycling services.
In the meeting, the city council placed the decision on if and how those fees will be reimbursed to residents on hold.
"We're looking at $1.1 million to give our residents for the 6 months there was no recycling," Joelle Castelli, the Clearwater communications director said.
If the city gave residents a full refund, it'd break down to $20.22 per household. And it's not something all of the council share the same perspective on.
"A full reimbursement, when we still have transportation costs, tipping fees, and everything else — I think is an unwise use of resources," Mayor Frank Hibbard said during Monday's workshop meeting.
Several council members disagreed with Hibbard during that same meeting.
"There is a price to pay for a colossal error," Councilor Kathleen Beckman said. "Otherwise, it's just like, well we made a mistake and there is no real consequence other than extreme embarrassment trying to make it right going forward."
"It takes effort from our citizens to do what they did and they fully expected it to be recycled," Councilor Lina Teixeira said.
Both Teixeira and Beckman pointed to the $40 million the city has in reserves. It's $25 million over the required amount.
Now if you're wondering where recycling is going now, the city said it is collecting three to four semi truckloads of recycling a day. One to two of those loads are recycled.
"We are recycling," Castelli said. "But we're recycling at a high cost. What we're needing to do is negotiate what a reasonable rate would be for us to recycle everything."
At the meeting, Clearwater city council also looked at reimbursements for the cities they partner with to provide recycling services.
Clearwater picks up and processes recycling for Safety Harbor and Belleair. Repayment for services not rendered will cost them tens of thousands more in reimbursements.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.