We all breathed a sigh of relief when the storm took a wobble to the east and spared our county devastating hurricane force winds. Even though we were not declared a disaster area, there are still local recovery efforts going on.
All of the fallen trees, branches, palm fronds and other yard waste generated by Hurricane Matthew have created a lot more yard waste than usual. In addition, residents appear to be throwing away larger items from their garages and yards they may have moved or stored during their storm preparation, but may now feel they don’t need or want any longer.
The volume of waste is also higher because regular waste collection service was cancelled on Thursday and Friday last week
The comparison of Monday collection weights the past few weeks is:
- Oct. 10 – 9,313 tons
- Oct. 3 – 6,938 tons
- Sept. 26 – 6,664 tons
The comparison of Tuesday collection weights the past few weeks is:
- Oct. 11 – 8,599 tons
- Oct. 4 – 6,930 tons
- Sept. 27 – 6,027 tons
With this increase of almost 40 percent in the amount of waste on Monday, the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County and the municipalities are working to assure that garbage, recyclables and yard waste collection is occurring as quickly and efficiently as possible. It is expected that garbage and recycling collection services will be back to normal next week but yard waste collections may take a week or two longer.
Should residents have any questions or concerns on a possible missed collection, please call SWA Customer Service at 561-697-2700; toll-free from southern and western Palm Beach County at 866-792-4636, or email them.
