Coral Springs: “The weekly bulk service is extremely high-level service”

Coral Springs, Florida – Weekly bulk trash pick-up is a service covered under an annual contract with Waste Pro, allowing residents to haul old couches, chairs, mattresses, appliances, and other materials to their curbs and have trash haulers take them away, which costs $2.5 million this year. But as Coral Springs faces growing trash expenses as well as troubles with Waste Pro in missing trash pick-ups in neighborhoods, city officials said they would consider reducing curbside bulk pick-up from weekly to monthly in a bid to trim costs.

“It would be one of the biggest money savers,” said John Norris, the city’s director of public works, during a public meeting last week. “The weekly bulk service is extremely high-level service.”

The discussion on reducing bulk pick up comes as Coral Springs is considering raising fees for trash collection (solid waste assessment) in the upcoming 2021-2022 fiscal year to $320 a year for an average homeowner, up to $30 from the current year.

According to officials, the increased fees would cover mounting expenses of trash removal during the pandemic when more people have been home and produced more garbage. As part of the discussions to cut trash expenses, Norris also said the city may need to reduce weekly trash pick-up.

“The green carts would go to one time a week pickup,” he said.

Reducing bulk and regular trash pickup would require contract negotiations with Waste Pro and come to an agreement, he said.