Is Recycling Trashed in St. Petersburg?

St. Petersburg is the only city in Pinellas County without curbside recycling included in regular household trash collection, according to a recent League of Women Voters study.

Out of the 50 largest municipalities in Florida, St. Petersburg is fourth in population. But it is the only one to lack a city-sponsored curbside recycling program financed through garbage pickup fees.

Whether St. Petersburg should adopt universal curbside recycling is now a campaign issue in races for mayor and City Council.

Mayor Bill Foster, who is running for re-election, has been pushing for a straw poll to ask voters if they want to pay more and adopt mandatory recycling. 

But District 4 Council candidate Darden Rice argues that St. Pete has among the highest garbage pickup fees in the county, yet lacks recycling services within that cost structure like the other communities.

According to Creative Loafing, Rice said: “We pay the highest fees for trash pickup and yet we don’t have this service that is commonplace everywhere else... What are we paying for?”

The  League of Women Voters study has brought the issue to the fore.

The study found that only a fraction of households – 6,100 our of 74,000  – use the city's monthly subscription curbside recycling program. 

Most don't even know it exists, according to the League of Women Voters study.

The Tampa Bay Times editorialized for recycling and argued against Foster's proposal for a straw poll on "mandatory recycling" at a higher cost, saying the language would skew voters against it.

"Recycling is a proven method to collect valued commodities for a higher use, prolong the life of landfills and protect natural resources. It's also the policy of a state where the Republican-led Legislature has voted twice since 2008 to call for communities to recycle at least 75 percent of their solid waste by 2020. St. Petersburg has wasted enough time."

For more information on this issue, see Citywide Recycling St. Petersburg Remains a Dream.

What do you think? 

• Should St. Petersburg move ahead to expand recycling services? Let us know in the comments below.