FEATURE
PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF KISSIMMEE
A recycling truck in a Kissimmee neighborhood.
One of Clearwater’s Underground Refuse System bins.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF CLEARWATER
QC
SUSTAINABILITY
Recycling Right
Cities offer creative solutions to service challenges by Kelli Gemmer Florida League of Cities
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ecycling is an important part of waste management, but cities have faced challenges over the past few years, from declining recyclables resale value to pandemic effects. China used to be one of the nation’s top collectors of recyclables. For many cities, recycling became economically unfeasible when China implemented a solid waste import ban in 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the issue with a nationwide shortage of waste collection workers and increased residential waste caused by residents working from home. Contamination, which occurs when nonrecyclable items are mixed in with recyclables, continues to be an expensive challenge for cities as well. Amid these challenges and rising costs, municipalities have had to get creative in how they approach this service. CITIES IMPLEMENT UNDERGROUND REFUSE SYSTEMS
In 2017, the City of Kissimmee partnered with Kissimmeebased company Underground Refuse Systems to become the first North American city to install an underground refuse system. 44 QUALITY CITIES | SECOND QUARTER 2022
These trash and recycling containers hold a large volume of refuse 12 feet underground until the City’s sanitation division picks it up on its scheduled day. The systems eliminate odors, protect the refuse from weather and animals, save space and are more aesthetically appealing than regular containers. It also has a locking system that deters illegal dumping. (Watch a video of Kissimmee’s Underground Refuse System in action at bit.ly/3v5cLiO.) Kissimmee has seven units downtown, and the first unit was at City Hall. Last fall, the City of Clearwater became the second city in the nation to install these Underground Refuse Systems. In addition to helping keep Clearwater “bright and beautiful” and reducing litter, the large volume of refuse that the systems contain has helped decrease collection frequency for the City. “It solved a lot of problems with public space recycling as well as garbage collection,” said Earl Gloster, Director of Solid Waste/Recycling. Gloster has also seen contamination decrease with these systems. “The underground containers that we use are marked just like all of our recycling containers, but people seem to be more
