Lee County restores solid waste services

The process of removing garbage and debris from the streets of Lee County has begun.

On Monday, Lee County Solid Waste got back to recycling and yard waste collection, which speeds up the recovery process and gets us back to where we need to be sooner.

There are some important things you need to know before the trucks come.

The most important thing to note is that regular trash is different from storm debris. Storm debris is collected separately from household garbage, so you have to make sure you’re sorting it out right.

So what exactly is storm debris? That’ll be things like big tree limbs or shrubs.

Regular household trash is things you’d typically throw away.

Now in order for all of this to be picked up, there has to be separation.

Crews ask that you create different piles for normal household trash, vegetation, construction and demolition, appliances and electronics.

You also should not place hurricane debris in bags per strict FEMA regulations.

If you’re wondering why your recycling or regular yard waste hasn’t picked up in the last week, it’s because the county had your health and safety in mind first.

Doug Whitehead, the Lee County Director of Solid Waste, told WINK News, “After the storm, there were 10s of 1000s of homes without power, and the food went bad in their refrigerators and freezers. So that created a large amount of food on the street, which is a health hazard because it encourages vermin through all the food waste.”

“So what we did is we designated last week as a week to go after that wet waste, that food waste that was pushed out, and we’ve collected that, and we’re good on that. So now we’re going back to regular three-part garbage service,” he explained.

In addition to the county crews hard at work, there are several debris drop-off locations across the county.

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Statement from Lee County Solid Waste

For yard waste, residents are asked to use containers, paper lawn and leaf bags, or place in bundles no more than 50 pounds and no more than 6 feet in length. Residents can set their vegetative material, including palm fronds, curbside on their regular collection day.

Yard waste in clear plastic bags and piled yard waste should be separated from piles of construction debris and regular household garbage and placed curbside for the storm debris contractor to collect.

Black plastic bags will not be collected with curbside yard waste at this time.

Drop-off locations

Residents who do not want to wait for the storm debris trucks may bring bundled yard waste to one of the four citizen debris drop-off sites. These sites are open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The locations are:

• 5031 Pine Island Road, Bokeelia, FL 33922
• 50 South Road, Fort Myers, FL 33907
• 18078 Cypress Point Road, San Carlos Park, FL 33967
• 13801 Orange River Blvd., Buckingham, FL 33905

Complete Hurricane Milton information is available at www.leegov.com/storm.