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Pinellas Digs Into Its Refuse

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By CARLOS MONCADA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 19, 2007

PINELLAS PARK - Protected by white jumpsuits and gloves, researchers still couldn't avoid the odor. They wrinkled their noses Tuesday in the name of science.

Seven people, Pinellas County workers and private contractors, were sorting through a pungent pile of other people's garbage to learn what stuff isn't getting recycled in the homes and businesses of Pinellas County.
Food materials and other decaying matter in this container; plastic in that container; aluminum cans in another. There were 22 categories in all.

'Basically, we want to see what's in the waste stream to evaluate the success of our recycling program and plan for future programs,' said Andy Fairbanks, who supervises the county's waste reduction program.

To that end, Pinellas is conducting a four-week, $150,000 waste composition study, along with Kessler Consulting Inc. Results won't be available until November or December. The findings will help the county evaluate recycling programs, identify changes in the waste stream and determine what improvements are needed.

In Pinellas, the state's most crowded county, residents, businesses and visitors create more than 2 million tons of garbage annually. Some states such as Delaware, South Dakota and Wyoming don't generate that much. It amounts to more than 5,000 tons per day or 10 pounds per person, half of that at home.

What type of trash are people throwing away? Mostly paper, then food, yard debris, bottles and cans, construction debris, electronics and chemicals, metals and clothing.

The last such study in Pinellas County was done in 2001. It found that more than 70 percent of the garbage being disposed at the county's solid waste facility can be recycled and 33 percent of that was recyclable paper.

As a result, the county started a paper-recycling program for government and commercial offices and added 'mixed paper' - any dry paper item that tears - to what its public recycling drop-off centers will take. A paper-recycling program also was started at county schools, and a Cutting Waste at Work program targets the commercial sector.

'The paper was the most obvious thing in 2001, and we're hoping to see a smaller percentage of paper this time around,' Fairbanks said as workers picked through piles of trash with tongs.

The seven white-suited researchers on the job Tuesday, who call themselves 'garbologists,' worked with garbage randomly dumped by garbage trucks beside their sorting station tents at Pinellas County Solid Waste Operations.

They ran across a few unusual items while sorting through the slop, including a mannequin's head, a dead ferret they suspect was someone's pet, and hypodermic needles, which are an obvious threat to garbage handlers.

'You name it,' Fairbanks said. 'Just imagine the things you threw away and never thought anyone would see again. We get to see it all.'

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or cmoncada@tampatrib.com.

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