POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Polk County Solid Waste and Recycling hopes to make some changes to help with the trash collection process, but it will lead to a 63% increase in costs for residents.

Just last year, the county went through a competitive bid process to select a contractor that would serve two areas of the county. Now those plans are being finalized.

What You Need To Know

  • Polk County Solid Waste and Recycling raising its cost 63% with a new contract

  • The contract will require three different companies to service three portions of the county

  • It will be a 5 year contract and will have three one-year extension periods that will require approval by county commissioners

  • Once the budget is finalized it will go to commissioners to approve and if approved the contract will kick off in October

Under the new contract, three different companies would service three portions of the county.

  • FCC Environmental will collect in service area number 1

  • GFL Environmental will collect in service area number 2

  • Polk County will service area number 3

The director of Polk County’s waste division, Dale Henderson, says the changes are needed because the county is rapidly growing.

It also means more state-of-the-art equipment will need to be purchased.

As far as how much this new contract will change the cost of pickups, Henderson says it was calculated by using the number of units and the rate per unit in the different service areas.

The rate came out to $337.33 for the one year proposed annual assessment.

“That rate is unilateral throughout the entire county, so for all unincorporated resident homeowners, they will pay the same rate no matter where you’re located,” Henderson said.

As for the disposal component, they’ve been lucky enough to not raise costs per ton, since the county has their own landfill.

The five-year contract will have three one-year extension periods that will require approval by county commissioners.

Henderson says that as prices continue to rise, they also have to meet demand.

“The solid waste industry does a really good job at trying to keep costs down by creating efficiencies,” he said.

For 40 years Henderson’s goal has been keeping communities clean and free of trash, and that’s his hope as this new contract takes effect.

The finalized budget contract will be presented to county commissioners in September, with the goal will be to start collection under the new contract on October 1.