Pinellas County landfills may hit capacity in a few years as more people move to area
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Pinellas County is dealing with a stinky situation quite literally.
The trash being produced by the significant number of people moving to the area is putting a strain on the landfill, which could cause it to reach capacity sooner than expected.
Right now, the landfill is expected to fill up and close in 75 to 80 years, according to Stephanie Watson, the county's recycling and outreach program manager for the solid waste department.
The waste energy facility at the landfill, which burns some of the trash, condensing it, is giving the timeline a buffer.
"We get a volume reduction when we burn garbage," Watson said. "The 10 trucks coming in the door, one truck goes to landfill. If we reach capacity to waste energy, more garbage will be going on to the landfill, which will fill it up exponentially quicker," Watson stated.
Watson expects the waste energy facility to reach capacity in just a few years, and maybe sooner with how the county is growing.
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"It's the steady increase of trash that is affecting us because our landfill, the only landfill in Pinellas County, is expected to fill up and be closed in 75, 80 years," Watson said.
When the landfill does close, the county will have to pay to truck trash out of the county, and that's expensive, she said.
Right now, Pinellas County gets 1.2 million tons of trash annually at the landfill, but that amount is increasing, Watson said.
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The county's master plan predicts close to 200,000 people will move to Pinellas by 2050. More people means more trash.
A line of vehicles line up outside a Pinellas County landfill.
"If nothing changes, our landfill will fill up much more quickly than the 75 to 80 years," she said.
Watson said they hope to change the solid waste ordinance to address the situation and maybe even require people to recycle.
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She said 60 to 70 percent of what comes to the landfill now could be recycled. The ideas came from the county's 30-year solid waste master plan released in 2020 with input from the community then.
An employee sorts through trash at a Pinellas County landfill.
"We don't know all the details of what a mandatory recycling ordinance would do, but at the very essence, it would require the collection of good recyclable materials, you know, cardboard, paper, containers going to a sorting facility to be turned into something new," Watson said.
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She said there's no price tag on the proposal right now or a plan for how it would be enforced. Municipalities in the county have voluntary recycling programs right now, while unincorporated areas do not.
Trash is piling up at a Pinellas County landfill.
County officials want to hear the public's input. They're holding meetings on July 11, 17 and 19. The meeting on July 11 is at St. Petersburg College's EpiCenter in Clearwater.
The meeting on July 17 is on Zoom, and the meeting on July 19 is at Harbor Hall in Palm Harbor. You can register on the county's website.
The county will then share that input with the commissioners in August.