Lehigh Acres trash troubles improving but problems still remain

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. -Trash pickup has been a problem in East Lee County since a new automated system took over on October 5th. Months later, and some people say the trash is still not being picked up properly, while others say it is getting better.

“Missed pickups, late, I saw them come on a Saturday, well they never did come on a Saturday before so I’m saying, hey supervisors we got a problem here,” Michael Maynard said. 

Some people who live in Lehigh Acres say trash collection is still a problem even after Lee County fined the new company, Progressive Waste Solutions, who is responsible for picking it up. In November, after several complaints about overflowing trash bins, Lee County Commissioners fined the company more than $375,000 for a list of violations.

Now, some say the trash is still being collected late.

“We don’t know when they’re going to pickup. Like Thanksgiving week they totally missed us,” Maynard explained.

Others in Lehigh Acres, however, say things have started looking up.

“Since they transferred over, we had a couple days late but so far they’re doing pretty good,” Louis John said.

Betsy Clayton, the spokeswoman for Lee County, released a statement saying in part, “Based on Request for Actions and calls to the Lee County Solid Waste Customer Service phone line, staff believes that the hauler, Progressive, is getting closer to the service level that was experienced prior to the change to automated trash pickup.”

The statement also said that the call volume at their customer service center is light and calls are being addressed in a timely manner and closed out accordingly.

Some neighbors say they wish they just better understood the new system.

“So we don’t know, we just don’t know. We’re not getting good information from the county, I don’t think,” Maynard said.

The county says another part of the problem is that residents are putting out their trash bins too late.