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Tampa To Paradegoers: Recycle, Please

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By DENNIS JOYCE

djoyce@tampatrib.com

Published: February 6, 2009

TAMPA - Pillage and plunder if you must, but please remember to recycle.

That's Tampa's plea to the hundreds of thousands of people who will converge on Bayshore Boulevard and its surroundings Saturday for the annual Gasparilla Parade of the Pirates.

Mayor Pam Iorio surrenders the keys to the city about 1 p.m. for ceremonial pirates to do their worst. But there's no need to litter, what with 400 white cardboard recycling containers spread up and down the route and a crew of 20 to maintain them.

There are even more containers for regular trash. But if there's one message solid waste Director Tonja Brickhouse has for Gasparilla revelers, it's this: "Recycle, recycle, recycle."

Last year, cans and bottles accounted for most of the 4.68 tons of recyclables gathered up by city crews and volunteers, Brickhouse said. That's just a fraction of the 58.45 tons of trash collected overall.

When you weigh all the plastic cups and busted Styrofoam chests and the occasional blanket, how much trash is Brickhouse expecting this weekend?

"That depends on how happy the folks get," she said.

She won't know for sure until later next week. But compare last year's figure to the year before, about 45 tons, and you'll see it's a growing challenge.

You might say Trashparilla starts about 9 p.m. Saturday, when cleanup is under way in earnest. It lasts until 6 a.m. or so Sunday morning.

The task requires three shifts of workers. Exactly how many of them will be determined at a meeting this afternoon.

And as big as it is, spread out over a few weeks – with a children's parade, night parade and long-distance runners' classic – the Gasparilla Festival still may not match the city's Super Bowl of trash heaps.

That would be the Super Bowl, whose output of waste is still being measured. Brickhouse expects the total, with the game Sunday at Raymond James Stadium and associated festivities, will top 100 tons.

Editor Dennis Joyce can be reached at djoyce@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7604.

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