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Rise In Frugality Leads To Drop In Trash Collection

By RICHARD MULLINS

rmullins@tampatrib.com

Published: March 23, 2009

TAMPA - Perhaps you held off buying that new refrigerator, or didn't buy a new home altogether. Either way, that meant a bit less garbage on the way to the landfill.

Multiply that frugality across several million people in the Bay area, and the down economy is having a direct impact on the flow of garbage to government dumps.

"Less commercial activity is the driving force behind this," said James Ransom, a spokesman for Hillsborough County's solid waste department. Less home construction means less construction debris, plus less waste from new lawns and residents.

Hillsborough had an 8 percent drop in the flow of solid waste into landfills in 2008.
Pinellas County recorded almost the same drop-off in waste tonnage; February figures fell 16 percent.

Solid waste tends to be a "trailing indicator" of the economy, said Deb Bush, operations manager for Pinellas solid waste operations.

When people buy fewer things, there are fewer things to haul to the trash.

Also, some of the decline comes from the popularity of Web sites such as Freecycle .org that match up people who offer items for free. Some is also tied to conservation and recycling.

BY THE NUMBERS

Hillsborough County

Fiscal 2007 - 1,084,926 tons

Fiscal 2008 - 997,650 tons
Home chemicals and electronics, including old TVs:

•2006: 454 tons

•2007: 545 tons

•2008: 666 tons

Pinellas County

February 2008: 85,434 tons

February 2009: 71,262 tons

2007: 1,072,702 tons

2008: 977,258 tons