Recycling as you knew it is over in Flagler Beach. Or, as the city’s sanitation supervisor put it, “recycle has become pretty much, another day of trash pick-up.”
Starting today, Flagler Beach is no longer recycling glass, plastic, metals, paper, magazines or newspapers. The only things its sanitation crews will pick up for recycling is aluminum and certain forms of corrugated cardboard such as Amazon or shipping boxes, but not pizza boxes or shoe boxes.
“Plastic is not being recycled like it used to be, it’s just a fact of life,” Rob Smith, Flagler Beach’s supervisor of sanitation, told the city commission in December, cautioning commissioners that change was necessary. Dumping a ton of plastic costs $80 to $90, and it must be driven to Jacksonville, as opposed to the $15 a ton for less expensive recyclables. So the only way we can get through this and do the right thing is to recycle things that actually can be recycled. If not, we’re wasting our time because I’m picking up trash three days a week.”
Flagler Beach, whose own city crews–as in Bunnell–provide trash service, becomes the latest among hundreds of cities and counties across the country to abandon traditional recycling in whole or in part since 2018.
That January, China, America’s largest market for recyclables, stopped accepting the nation’s trash in its ongoing efforts to combat pollution. That raised the price of recycling, making it financially difficult for haulers to keep recycling and preserve their contracts with local governments absent big cost increases to customers. Customers don’t want those increases, even though they continue to want recycling programs. Meanwhile, from Philadelphia to Memphis to Florida, thousands of tons of recyclable materials are ending up either ion landfills or in incinerators
Flagler Beach’s decision coincides with Palm Coast’s current rethinking of its trash contract as it prepares to bid it out before 2022. Recycling is a big part of that rethinking. The city surveyed residents in March about what they want to see in their next contract. Based on a preliminary glance at responses from thousands of residents, they still very much want recycling as they’ve known it.
Waste Pro, Palm Coast’s trash hauler, continues to provide recycling (officially, anyway), and residents continue to put out their recycling bins at curbside every Wednesday (often filled with stuff that shouldn’t be there: pizza boxes, plastic food containers, grocery bags, diapers, styrofoam cups.) Residents have been dubious about the hauler’s claims that it was still recycling, seeing regular trash trucks pick up their recyclables time after time. The city investigated.
“We got them to verify or validate,” Palm Coast City Manager Matt Morton said, citing the city staffer who verified it, “that they’re still recycling. We went down a year ago when these concerns were asked of us, like, hey, is Waste Pro recycling. And we went to their MRF,” the materials recovery facilities, “And yeah, they’re, there. They’re separating, and they were bailing and bundling and hauling off bundles of material and recycle.”
Flagler Beach Commissioner Eric Cooley had the same question for Smith in December, having heard the stories, even when the city were to move to restricted recycling.
“Let’s say we get it right, we ship it to ELS, and it’s all recycled [materials], that’s perfect,” Commissioner Eric Cooley wondered, referring to Environmental Land Services, the Bunnell company where recycling materials end up. “Are they going to recycle it?”
“Absolutely,” Smith assured him.
“So are we going to tell the citizens we’re only doing cardboard?,” the commissioner asked. Yes, along with aluminum cans and metals, Smith told him (though metals were eventually eliminated from the bargain.)
Cooley was still skeptical–not about the effort, but about the public’s receptivity. A long-time volunteer in beach cleanups and other green initiatives, Cooley recalled how Flagler Beach has made every effort to encourage people to recycle, planting the proper bins, adding the proper language on what may and may not go in there, color-coding the bins, and still: “They all end up with one thing in them: trash.”
Smith wanted the city to come up with an educational plan for the city’s 2,600 households and about 200 businesses or commercial accounts.
He wanted to cut costs because as it was, he was duping a lot of recycled materials in the dump. “Continuing down the path we’re headed now makes no sense. I mean I might as well get rid of recycle together because it’s another trash day,” Smith said. “That’s where we’re at and I want to recycle, I want to do the right thing, I want to have a city, be part of a city that in six months, there’s an article written about the residents of the city that are doing the right thing, and we’re actually making a difference.”
Commissioner Jane Mealy offered to put the volunteers of the Flagler Woman’s Club to help with the recycling reeducation of residents. Smith suggested slipping in brochures in utility bills or running radio spots. “I want everybody to join in and do the right thing and make a difference, because it’s not going the right direction right now,” Smith said.
Cooley was all for an education campaign. But even then, he was skeptical. “There’s going to need to be a hard line where it gets left,” he said of non-compliant material that ends up bulking up trash bins. “And that’s going to be a lot. I’m just worried with human behavior, because we’ve been studying this for decades now. Is compliance going to be enough to pay for everything we’re doing? We have special trucks on runs, we have special runs going here and there, and when this is all said and done, are we going to get back financially as a city, what it’s costing us in effort, or are we still upside down?”
Smith said compliance on the beach as unlikely. But residents and businesses ” that’s really easy to make them comply,” he said. The trash and recycling trucks are still running anyway, he said, to pick up the stuff, whether it’s called recycling or trash.
“We can’t say we’re not going to do recycle at all,” Mealy said, alluding to what she understood as a legislative mandate requiring some form of recycling, though no such mandate is actually in place. Mealy was referring to the Energy, Climate Change and Economic Security Act of 2008, which had, in fact, set out a goal for cities and county to meet: recycling 75 percent of all trash by 2020, with interim goals of 40 percent by 20212, 50 percent by 2014 and 60 percent by 2018. “Florida achieved the interim goals established for 2012 and 2014,” the state Department of Environmental Protection reports. “However, Florida did not meet the 2016 interim goal of 60% and the recycling rate has continued to decline since that time. Florida’s 2018 recycling rate was 49%, falling short of the 2018 interim recycling goal of 70%.” Oddly, the department attributed the drop not to China’s closed door and the surge in cities and counties no longer recycling, which unquestionably is playing a role in the decline, but to a drop in construction and demolition debris recycling.
But Smith’s message at the December meeting seemed clear to the commission: “What Rob is asking is, he’s spoken to some of the businesses and some of the residents, let them come up with the plan. Come back and present it to us, and then work on this educating the masses,” then-Mayor Linda Provencher said, summing up the proposal.
“I’m just telling you where we either need to head,” Smith said, “we need to head here or we need to head to here, and I don’t want to go over here to the dark side and just store everything in a trash truck, because I think that’s irresponsible, when there is things that we can recycle.”
He added: “You got to start small, start easy and then work your way up and education is key. You can’t say I want this this this and this, or we’re not picking your stuff up, it has to be a group effort.” Smith proposed returning to the commission by January at a meeting or a workshop with a plan. He did so at the January 28 meeting, when the commission also approved a 1.79 percent increase in trash-hauling fees, though Smith by then had reorganized routes to eliminate the need for a new driver. The increase, the city finance director said, is due to the increased volume that will go in regular bins, possibly requiring an increase in pick-ups or containers. The tipping fees for dumping the waste are also rising.
The new recycling directive was issued Monday by email, just two days before the recycling pick-up, with this change: “As of Wednesday, April 7, 2021, Wednesday is the city wide recycle day. The city will only be recycling corrugated cardboard, boxes and aluminum products.”
As other cities watch what Flagler Beach is doing, the approach in Palm Coast is unlikely to change from what it is now, with residents assuming that what they put in their recycling bins actually gets recycled (diapers and non-recyclables aside). “My suspicion is, you know, recycling is sort of integral, important to Palm Coast,” Morton, the Palm Coast city manager, said. “The identity is the green, the clean green city, right? I mean, I think it’s important. So I suspect we’ll continue to recycle.”
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Deborah Coffey says
The country in latest Gallup poll: 49% Democrat and 40% Republican. We can see why. In a few months, I’d lay money that a new poll will be 55% Democrat and 30% Republican. They’ve got no plan except to steal elections and remain in power…plans that benefit themselves…and no one else. Let’s recycle. It’s important to take care of our planet.
Agkistrodon says
You do realize that the countries who were buying these recyclables stopped. Most recycling these days consists of taking large barges out into the ocean filled with compacted recyclables. Then they become part of your food system. Add to that, all the microplastics coming from clothes laundering, you know these new really stretchy fabrics, they are made with plastic. Everytime you wash it, they release microplastics, and Democrats are part of that too. Maybe leave politics put of it. Recycling has been the biggest scam, or one of them pulled on the American public.
Richard says
What a bunch of BS! Well if they don’t have the time or desire to recycle then I don’t either. Today’s pickup will the LAST one for me. Everything will be going into the trash barrel for pickup on Monday’s and Thursdays. If Flagler Beach reconsiders in the future and they start recycling ALL recyclables then I will start recycling once again. Until that time comes everything is headed for the landfill.
DRock says
Oh that’s a mature attitude to take! What about the earth? We only have one. Do what ever you can to save it even if it falls short of the best alternative.
Richard says
You can pickup all of our recycling products on any Wednesday of the week and do whatever you want with them. If they are still there on Thursday then they are headed to the landfill.
Michael S Stowell says
This decision is disgrace. We MUST recycle paper, plastic, tin cans, etc. What prompted this new direction??? China?? Obiden???
Rxx says
Okay, well then I hope Flagler Cty keeps the twice a week trash pickup because that’s going to increase dramatically.
Brian says
I never knew garbage could be so complicated.
Mary Fusco says
Me neither. LOL. Back in the day, when recycling first started, I lived in NY. We had to have 3 bins. One for paper, one for glass and one for aluminum. It was a full time job, plus the regular garbage. Imagine we had 6 people in the household and had to drag this stuff out in snow and ice. I have recycled for the 21 years I have lived in FL. Now I notice that recyclables are just all put in the back of a regular garbage truck. Therefore, I have retired from recycling because there is no point to it.
E, ROBOT says
There never was a point to it. Here in FB, the recycling went to the same dump as regular garage pickup. A number of people followed the truck at different times and that was the case each time.
Gene Andrews says
Most housholds put it at the curb and forget about it. We should be asking 5th graders what they think the solution to our waste disposal problem is.
Jimbo99 says
Overpopulation isn’t pretty is it ? Trash is piling up, children at the borders, they’ll be allowed into the USA and that new carbon footprint means more trash that can’t be recycled. Since the Chinese aren’t going to take everyone’s waste for recycling, America is going to back up like a clogged sewage pipe into a house.
Justin Case says
Just wondering where you can still get real TV dinners like you have in that picture?
metoo says
I called the city about recycling problems I was having. I was told QUOTE recycling is voluntary so if you want to ok if not don’t.
FlaglerLive says
Recycling has always been voluntary in all Flagler County jurisdictions. It is mandated in certain cities in the country, especially for apartment buildings, offices and restaurants.
Mike OConnell says
I think Flagler Beach is doing the right thing .I for one am tired of picking up the things laying on the street after the recycle truck as left . last week i seen them pick up a bottle throw it at the truck miss and leave it on the ground , by our official’s in Palm Coast tellus all is well with Wast Pro.
Candra says
I am no expert on the subject yet it seems that the United States needs to invest in building new recycling facilities that can handle the volume of recyclables instead of having to rely on selling it to China or other countries to buy it and process it for us. This would not only allow us to continue recycling as many have become accustomed to doing but also create new jobs.
Common Sense says
Build recycling centers attached to prisons. Make prisoners actually pay their debt to society by providing this service.
No Mess says
We have Lasers now…… Build buildings that can hold 90,000 tons of recyclable items at a time and ” ZAP ” them with a ion particle beams. The oozy stuff left over bury with all the nuclear waste. Or eradicate 1/2 the worlds population in a day. Perhaps mostly the women that use tons of makeup and diet soda’s……
Paul Larkin says
Kudos and thank you to Candra for the above suggestion that this country develop its own recycling capacity instead of looking to China or elsewhere. AND what is wrong with the following picture: Flagler Beach- quaint community by the Sea that it is- eliminating the collection of all plastics (among the other items it is now excluding) WHEN We are collectively pouring something like 9 million tons of plastic annually into our Oceans and that number is rapidly increasing- with estimates of 100,000 Marine animals dying yearly from plastic contamination. By 2050 there may be more plastic in the Oceans than fish. We are polluting almost every living system-including our own bodies- with plastic- much and probably most of that from the dangerously conceived concept of one use plastic items now woven into the fabric of everyday life. This may seem convenient in the short term but certainly not when you look at the already evident long term consequences. I hope we can individually and collectively change that picture.
Bill C says
Plastic recycling was/is a myth created by the oil industry to avoid being responsible for the waste they created. They knew from the beginning that recycling was not viable, yet sunk millions into selling the lie to the public.
https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-recycling-myth-2647706452.html
James Gardner says
Its not that Flagler Beach is not recycling, it’s that what we were doing was going into the garbage dump because they can not separate the stuff that does not belong. At this time it is only cost effective to recycle certain things. In other words no market for it. As far as Waste Pro, I had a taxpayer come in with his I-Pad and show a video of Waste Pro dumping the trash and recyclables in the same truck. If we do aluminum and cardboard it will still be doing our part. When the market changes we can add paper, plastic, etc. The way to do more would require separate bins for each material(buy special trucks) and us paying the short fall by paying more in our bills to offset the loss to the recycle company. Glass breaking in the truck with all the other recyclable material ruins the entire load. Single stream is cheaper and easier, but not functional. I will do my part and hope you will.
Sherry says
RIDICULOUS! Just another wrong headed move by Republican climate change deniers!
Just when President Biden put our country back into the Paris Climate agreement and massive companies like Coke have rolled out extensive recycling projects, Flagler Beach decides to STOP RECYCLING plastic and glass. Take a good read:
https://www.coca-colacompany.com/news/coke-announces-investments-in-recycling
Climate change is happening now, right now. . . and, all our politicians can think about is the “Capitalism” model for absolutely EVERYTHING! To hell with the environment. . . just focus on maximizing that profit!!!
Bethechange says
Agree with James on doing my part. It is a personal responsibility that impacts collectively. No, not me, but my descendants. As long as l cling to the mentality that l put my garbage up by the road and someone (blessed soul) takes it away, l will never assume responsibility for my negative impact on our planet. If each of us was responsible for disposing of the waste we generate, with our insatiable need for more, we’d have a ton less trash.
Chris says
“recycling” has been waining the past 3-4 years; too many rules, too many exceptions for recycling. You have to have a MBA to be able to sort all the items. China quit buying all the “recycling” materials. I’m sure they have their own mess now.
Plastic stuff can be made fresh cheaply since it involves natural gas for chemistry. Aluminum has a high energy content to develop from ore. There is a shortage for beverage cans, foil and yes, car and truck wheels. How many cars do see with steel wheels (except police cars)?
I’m glad, as a condo owner, to see all the nasty signs around the dumpsters disappear and Board members yelling about enforcing the rules to 16 Y/O.