The dash to pick up your trash after Hurricane Irma is now in full swing! Several counties across Tampa Bay began curbside pickup Monday.
There are a couple rules you’ll want to know about:
- Ditch the bags! Curbside pickup should not be bundled or bagged. If you have leaves to toss, put those in a bag in your regular trash can.
- Sort your debris. Tree limbs should be in one pile, construction debris/roof shingles/metal etc. should be in another pile
- Stack it by the curb, but away from your mailbox.
- Don’t put any electronics or hazardous waste at the curb. You’ll want to take that to a county dump site.
Pinellas County resident Barry Fletcher is stunned by the number of limbs strewn across his yard. His 200-year-old oak was battered in last week’s hurricane.
"I can light it on fire and we can have a big weenie roast!,” he joked.
Our local counties say definitely don’t burn your debris, but you should stack it up on your property near the curb.
In Dundin, Cathy Knowles also can’t wait to see all the debris disappear from her neighborhood, ”get it up and get it out of here. The faster they get it up, the less chance of mice and rats and stuff making nests in it."
Pinellas County crews started picking up curbside debris from the furthest points North and South in the county Monday.
"They're gonna be working 7 days a week sun up to sun down, just be patient. You'll see them when you roll in,” explained Sean Tipton, Pinellas County’s debris management coordinator.
They’ll also be making several sweeps through the neighborhood, so don’t worry if you forget to put out your pile.
Pinellas County plans to pick up enough debris to fill a whopping 4, 225 dump trucks!
The tree debris will be ground up and recycled.
Just like it was essential that we all knew our evacuation zone, now it’s important you know your debris pick up zone. Pinellas county created an interactive map where you can zoom in and find your address: pinellascounty.org.
Pinellas county started with North zones INON03; INON05; INON06 and South County zones INSE07; INSE08, INSE09. The contractors will work for two weeks in the initial zones and then move on to other zones for another two weeks, until all zones have been covered.
