City of St. Petersburg using private haulers to help make 90-day debris deadline
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The City of St. Petersburg is turning to private contractors to help make a critical deadline to get all the hurricane debris picked up.
The city has 67 trucks on debris patrol, and have hired 61 private haulers as part of its Hometown Haulers plan.
So far, 47,000 cubic yards-worth of belongings that no one ever wanted to throw away have been dropped at city collection sites.
"There's a lot of emotion in these piles I think," said Raye Moore, of Moore Landscaping and Hauling.
"It's really heartbreaking," said Bryan Paxcajay, who is collecting debris at people's homes with his dad.
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Often, only one house fits in each truckload, which can bring a private hauler several hundred dollars.
"There used to be someone's living room, someone's bedroom, the memories within that stuff," said Paxcajay.
"Pictures and stuff that you can tell have been in families for a while," said Moore.
Like all local governments, the City of St. Pete faces a ninety-day deadline to get everything picked up in order to be reimbursed for the cost by FEMA.
So far, Hometown Haulers have made 2,200 drops, while private workers, like Paxcajay and Moore, have likely made many more than that.
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"You can't have another hurricane coming up again while there's still the debris outside," said Paxcajay. "And it really helps out because, it can lessen the damage from the debris."
The city is seeing about 1,000 loads dropped off at its collection sites each day, with private contractors saying they're often hired by residents who see them driving by and want their stuff removed then and there.
"It's really important," said Moore. "It takes a lot of manpower to get all this stuff out of the way and get everybody's lives back in order."
After the debris is collected, it will be sorted, with some going to the landfill, and vegetative waste being turned to mulch.
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