DUNEDIN — The city of Dunedin will continue its recycling program. But getting to that decision wasn’t an easy one.
On Oct. 22, city commissioners reprocessed an agenda item that they failed to pass at an earlier meeting, and awarded a contract for recyclables collection to Waste Pro of Florida for $1.17 million.
Staff noted the city has 11,800 solid waste customers, with the city offering curbside recycling and two drop-off recycling facilities: at Lake Haven Recycling Center at 810 Lake Haven Road, and Highlander Pool at 1941 Ed Eckert Drive.
At the Oct. 22 hearing Public Works staffers told commissioners, “the 2025 Solid Waste Rate Study did anticipate increases in ongoing expenses, including the city’s residential recycling contract, and as such, built-in cost escalators accordingly. Savings have been realized with the elimination of services to the unincorporated county customers. These savings have been helpful to keep within the overall budget even with escalating costs. Recycling expenses are aligned with the financial projections outlined in the rate study. We will continue to monitor costs with the increased price for contracted services.”
Staff also addressed the benefits of recycling for commissioners who were skeptical at the earlier meeting. Public Work staffers noted, “recycling is an integral component of the waste management stream, effectively diverting material from the landfill.”
The contract is not funded through the General Fund, staff reminded commissioners. The recycling contract is funded out of the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund and supports the city’s trash collection operations.
However, at the earlier Oct. 8 meeting commissioners questioned why the new contract has a 17% increase over this year, and includes recycling fees that are increasing.
Commissioners also questioned what the savings would be if the city did not recycle. They were told the city would have to pay more for increased trash collection, which would include purchasing more trash hauling trucks and additional employees to handle the increased load.
Two weeks ago Commissioner Rob Walker commented, “this is killing me, because I’m very pro-recycling.” He said his problem is not with the company “but rather with the procurement. This is an expensive ask, expensive to our budget.”
He questioned why staff did not provide breakdown of Waste Management’s proposed bid, if they were able to provide it for Waste Pro. “We owe that to our community and subsequently without that answer I can’t vote in favor of this, and that is killing me,” he said.
In addition, a few weeks ago Commissioner Steve Sandbergen said when he takes the recyclable container out on Sunday night, “there is about three items in it; I think every neighbor in my community could put it into one can. So we need to reduce some money in this city, and I will not vote for this—that’s 1 million of the 4 million we’re looking for.”
City Manager Jennifer Bramley and Mayor Maureen Freaney were surprised and shocked at the Oct. 8 meeting when the commission voted 3-2 against approving the contract.
The city manager asked for a chance to rehear the issue as quickly as possible. “I didn’t hear any of this during the agenda briefing,” she added.
The city manager advised the commission needs to take into account the ramifications of discontinuing the recycling program.
Commissioners then made a motion to reconsider the item, asking that it come back at the earliest possible date.
At the Oct. 22 meeting, city commissioners were provided with a comparison of the Waste Pro and Waste Management contracts. Assistant City Manager Jorge Quintas said Waste Management’s bid was probably higher because they would have to replace all the carts that Waste Pro had to remove if they didn’t get the contract.
City staff also noted if the city ended its recycling program, Public Works would have to add three additional rear end loader trucks costing about $1,225,000, three additional full-time employees and 1.5 temporary staffers, along with 2,875 90-gallon green carts costing about $460,000. Instead of three trash routes, there would have to be six. The budget impact would be $1,828,826, and with no recycling the city would have to spend about $862,238 a year in recurring costs.
Katherine Eichner, representing Pinellas County Solid Waste, advised “we receive about 1.5 million tons into the facility from the county, and can process up to $1 million tons through the Waste To Energy Facility, so you can see we already have a delta. Our landfill is already receiving more trash than we can process in the Waste To Energy facility. If the county were to stop recycling we would shave 20 years off the life of the landfill, now we’ve got 66 years of life left.”
“You’re looking at a potentially a short term gain for a very huge long term cost, if the city were to stop recycling,” she advised. “Don’t let Dunedin be the tipping point in stopping recycling. You are a model community. You are the fifth most populous municipality in the county and fourth best recycling community. Looking at the county as a whole, it will be hard us for us in terms of our disposal capacity, if recycling were not to continue.”
Commissioners’ tone changed when it came to their comments at the Oct 22 meeting.
Commissioner Rob Walker said “our relationship with Waste Pro goes back to 2017 and they were here for (Hurricane) Irma. The impacts of Irma in terms of the debris was significant.” He asked staff; how would you evaluate their response?”
Quintas said, “I would remind the commission the city’s ability to meet the criteria that was placed upon us, in order to remain compliant and eligible for FEMA reimbursement, had a specific timeframe associated with it, 90 days comes to mind. Waste Pro was integral in our ability to meet that criteria, they were a great partner.”Bramley said they have not heard any interest to discontinue recycling from residents.
Walker added, “just from my own personal perspective I just want to provide a little clarification. I felt extremely guilty two weeks ago. This was never a mandate against recycling for me. And it was most certainly not intended to disparage the relationship that we have with Waste Pro. This is an example of a public private partnership that is very successful.”
He added that two weeks ago “if we didn’t understand the mechanics or infrastructure of the deal we have the responsibility to make sure we do.”
Commissioner Tom DuGard said, “sometimes we answer no because we don’t fully understand it, and I think that’s where we were two weeks ago.”
Commissioner Steven Sandbergen said since that last meeting he asked residents about recycling and they said, “their recycling bin is full of Amazon boxes and wine bottles.” He added he is now 100% in favor of the city’s recycling program.
Mayor Freaney said “two weeks ago, inside my head I was exploding. The bottom line is things always turn out the way they are supposed to.” She added “it boiled down to commissioners that needed a little more information.”
“Never once in my mind, after that meeting, did I really think we would come back here and it would actually jeopardize our recycling. I’m ecstatic with where this ended up, it is Dunedin.”
On the second time around, commissioners voted unanimously to accept Waste Pro’s bid.