County Cancels Solid Waste Contract

Waste collection is something people take for granted, until there are problems.

St. Johns County commissioners addressed concerns with its solid waste provider, FCC Environmental Services, at a meeting earlier this month, voting to terminate the contract with FCC, according to a media release.

According to the release, the county plans to immediately seek opportunities to solicit interim supplemental service providers to supplement FCC solid waste services in the meantime.

Commissioners also approved an emergency order to use all available resources to get all yard waste picked up and off the streets as soon as possible. The emergency order is to prevent a serious threat to public health and safety.

Under the current local state of emergency, the deadlines for the two current Requests for Proposals for providers will be shortened, the release stated.

“The county has heard from our community about their disappointment and frustrations with FCC,” County Administrator Joy Andrews said in the release. “Today, our leadership took bold, aggressive steps to clean up this mess. A new journey begins to regain the confidence of our community when it comes to reassuring them that their trash will be picked up when it should be picked up and they will receive the quality customer service they deserve. It is important to note, under our current contract with FCC, the Board’s decision to terminate does not alleviate FCC’s responsibility to continue providing services under the current contract.”