CLEARWATER, Fla. — The city of Clearwater has not properly processed any residential recycling since June of last year, the city confirmed. Instead, it has been sent to the same place as the rest of the trash.
As a result of the city's investigation into the matter, the assistant director of waste management, Bryant Johnson, resigned on Monday.
"This is a trust issue," said Noelle Castelli, a city spokesperson. "Any time that you tell the residents you're doing something and it's found out that you're not, then you lose trust. The only way to gain that back is to do what you say you're going to do..."
The city cited staffing changes and equipment failure as the reason the recycling hasn't been properly processed.
"This is an unacceptable thing that has happened within the city and within the department," Castelli said.
The city began its investigation after seeing multiple social media posts on the Nextdoor app.
"In October 2022, the city was made aware of community discussions happening on social platform Nextdoor about the city's recycling processing," a statement from the city read. "The city manager's office inquired about the complaints, and the response from the city's Solid Waste department at that time was an assurance that recyclables were properly being processed."
Clearwater contracts with a recycling plant in Tampa's Ybor City. Before recycling goes there, it's separated at a recycling center in Clearwater. Instead of heading to Ybor, it was sent to the Pinellas County Waste-To-Energy facility alongside the rest of the county's waste.
In November, the county was sent a letter from its Ybor facility to terminate its service agreement, stating, "The City of Clearwater has not delivered any recyclable material to our Tampa MRF facility since June of 2022."
Clearwater residents pay $3.80 a month for recycling services. The city said it is now looking into options for reimbursement for the months' services that weren't properly provided.
If you're wondering what to do with your recyclables in the meantime, the city of Clearwater says to keep separating and bringing the bins to the curb for pickup or dropping your items off at the recycling center as the city sorts out its next steps.
Recyclables are now being taken to Waste Management for daily processing as a short-term solution. Waste Management is only able to process one-fourth of the city's residential recycling. The rest — the city is still sorting out what to do with.
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.