PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — As families stack up mounds of memories on the curb, including furniture and photos, commercial junk haulers tell the ABC Action News I-Team that the county is turning away storm debris at its main dump site.
Right now, there is one location for hauling companies to drop off what Helene destroyed.
Commercial haulers lined up at Angelo's Recycling in Largo on Tuesday after learning that, as of 6 a.m., they could no longer take storm debris to the Pinellas County Solid Waste Disposal in St. Petersburg.
Caitlin Mceleny, one of the owners of Done Rite Hauling, a family business her parents started more than 20 years ago, said they have never been as busy as they are now in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
“Absolutely not, it’s unbelievable," Mceleny said. “We just want to help the community get back to normal and, you know, help all of these families that lost everything."
Done Rite Hauling, located in Seminole, primarily serves Pinellas County.
“Our phone are ringing off the hook, we came in Friday morning not realizing that we had 100+ online orders that were ordered throughout the night and we just were nonstop answering the phone, taking calls, not realizing the severity of how everything was. Now Friday and Saturday and Monday we were able to dump at the county, the lines were obviously very long, but I mean it’s just been more than we can handle," Mceleny told the I-Team.
Tuesday, everything changed.
“We’re not allowed to take any storm debris to Pinellas County. They said if it looks like it’s from a flood, they’re going to turn us away," Mceleny said.
The I-Team saw that happening outside of the county's solid waste complex, with cars redirected to other sites and companies told they could only dump food.
“If we have food trash, they’re letting us in. But only if we have food trash," one commercial hauler said.
“That’s never happened before," Mceleny told the I-Team. “I have never seen the county not allow us to go there; that’s our main source of dumping.”
Contacting Pinellas County officials, the I-Team found out there is now just one location for commercial haulers to bring storm debris within the county — Angelo's Recycling.
“I’ve had other haulers in the area that we have relationships with reach out to me wondering if we have any ideas, trying to put our heads together to figure out what we’re going to do, because if everyone is going to the one transfer station, I mean that’s going to cause a backup there, as well as the fact they don’t take a lot of household stuff," Mceleny said.
Done Rite had to bring some of the storm debris it collected back to its own lot, but it was unsure where to bring it.
“At some point we’re going to have a bunch of dumpsters that we’re not going to have anything to do with, or we’re going to have a pile of debris in our yard that we’re dumping because we have nowhere else to put it right now," Mceleny said.
Meanwhile, the information Pinellas County provided the I-Team shows that Pasco County has four locations for commercial haulers to dump storm debris and Hillsborough County has two sites.
“It makes it really hard. I mean we’re trying to help the community get back in order and, you know, everyone’s trying to do the same thing. We’re just trying to help everyone get back situated, so not being able to go there just really causes an issue, especially because they’re not letting us, as a company, come to the FEMA sites, even if we come with the homeowners information of where we brought it from. From my impression, you have to be a homeowner to bring it there, so we’re kind of stuck right now," Mceleny said.
After our story aired Tuesday, Pinellas County provided us with this information:
"The Pinellas County Solid Waste Disposal Complex is not a designated storm debris site, nor is it equipped to accept storm debris. The volume of debris we received from this storm would overwhelm our site and interrupt regular waste processing. Storm debris must also be documented before disposal for reimbursement by FEMA, which would not be possible at Solid Waste. Therefore, we are implementing a zoned storm debris collection plan for the unincorporated County beginning today, and we’re supporting our cities as they develop their own plans. Our contractor will document and remove the debris."
Additional information on debris collection in Pinellas County:
If residents live in an unincorporated area and do not want to wait for the County’s storm debris collection, they may take it to these two (possibly three soon) locations. Residents must present a valid I.D. to confirm that they live in an unincorporated area.
1. Starting Monday, Sept. 30: East Central Location, 13600 Icot Boulevard. Clearwater, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
2. Starting Tuesday, Oct. 1: Southeast Corner of Eat Lake Road and Keystone Road (enter off Keystone Road), 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The location at 118th Ave. North is closed today due to adverse weather conditions. More information to follow on when and what time it will open.
Commercial haulers may not use the above sites. They may instead drop off debris at these approved locations:
| | | |
| Permittee or Applicant | Facility Name | County |
| Angelo's Aggregate Materials, Ltd. | Angelo's Recycling MRF - Largo | Pinellas |
| Angelo's Aggregate Materials, Ltd. | Enterprise Road Class III Recycling and Disposal Facility | Pasco |
| Ash-Len Corporation | Ash-Len Closed C&D Debris & Class III Landfills | Pasco |
| Florida Environmental Resources Corp. | Williams Road Recovery C&D | Hillsborough |
| George Coniglio Landfill, Inc. | Coniglio C&D Debris Disposal & Recycling Facility | Hillsborough |
| Pasco County Utilities | Pasco County Resource Recovery (Class I & Class III) | Pasco |
| Pasco Lakes Inc. | Pasco Lakes C&D Debris Disposal Facility | Pasco |
Residents who are disposing of household appliances such as washers, dryers, and refrigerators may take them to these sites:
- Anclote Metal 806 Anclote Rd, Tarpon Springs
- County Recycling 5601 Haines Rd, St Petersburg
- DDM Scrap Metal 4697 W County Road, St Petersburg
- Trademark Metal 9380 67th St N, Pinellas Park, Fl
- Trademark Metal 2801 E 4th Ave, Tampa, Fl
Pinellas County plans to start a residential collection of Hurricane Helene debris in the unincorporated area of the county on Wednesday, Oct. 2. Debris collection will be implemented in zones starting at Crystal Beach, Ozona, West Palm Harbor, Unincorporated Seminole, and West Lealman.
Residents can find more information on storm debris removal at this link
This story started with a tip. If you have something you'd like the I-Team to investigate, contact Kylie:
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
