Port St. Lucie residents don’t want to pay more for extra trash pickup
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A survey released by the city of Port St. Lucie found the majority of residents opposed the idea of paying an estimated $131 per year to increase trash pickup to twice a week.
The results found that 86% of residents voted no.
“My general preference is not, only because there’s only two of us. We don’t really create a lot of trash,” Port St. Lucie resident Katie Karabelas said. “But you do see some of the trash bins that are a little bit on the full side.”
The survey went out in January with a series of questions as a guide for the city when it comes to strategic planning and development of new services and more.
This comes a year and a half after the city began a new contract with FCC Environmental Services in 2022, taking over for former company Waste Pro.
WPTV
Port St. Lucie resident Katie Karabelas was among those who voted no to pay more for extra trash pickup.
“Your trash would sit out for days and days,” Karabelas said. “You wouldn’t know when they were coming sometimes. They would leave it out. They wouldn’t come for three days. You’d take it back because you weren’t sure what was happening and then you’d see them drive by.”
“What is your overall satisfaction with the new company? How are you feeling?” asked WPTV reporter Joel Lopez.
“It’s been great. We haven’t had any issues. We love it,” Karabelas said.
With the switch, residents had to adjust to trash pick up going from twice a week to once a week.
The move created issues for Port St. Lucie resident Austin Difrancesco, a husband and father of three children.
WPTV
Austin Difrancesco is among the Port St. Lucie residents not happy about the current trash pickup schedule.
“It’s terrible. Our trash is constantly full, maggots, flies, the whole 9 yards,” Difrancesco said.
He said in a week his family fills two bins worth of trash and has resorted to bigger trash cans inside the house to mitigate the issue.
“Port St. Lucie is a beautiful place,” Difrancesco said. “If they want to keep Port St. Lucie beautiful, like they say in their slogans, get the trash, get it back to the way it needs to be — two days a…
