Council restores opt‑in curbside recycling, sets new fees and a July restart date; residents and businesses question costs

The Pensacola City Council voted to adopt new sanitation and recycling fees and to restart an opt‑in curbside recycling program during its May 22 meeting. The ordinance (proposed ordinance 7‑25) passed on a 7‑0 vote after council members questioned staff about expected costs, enforcement and service levels.

Key provisions approved

- Residential baseline trash collection (one standard cart, weekly pickup): $24.99 per month. - Residential opt‑in curbside recycling (one trash cart + one recycling cart, weekly collection as structured in the ordinance): $32.99 per month. - Commercial collections: council and staff revised fee schedules; the meeting cited a commercial recycling/collection rate in the materials that will change commercial billings and that some businesses will see their monthly charge move toward $49.98 depending on service level. - The ordinance contains scheduled adjustments in 2026 and 2027; staff said those are built into the multi‑year cost model presented to council.

Implementation and schedule

City staff and the mayor said the program will restart on or about July 14, 2025, assuming final operational steps such as contracting with ECUA (Escambia County Utilities Authority) and system testing are completed. Staff said the city has worked with Recycling Partnership (a national nonprofit technical partner) and secured grant funding to support program restart; the mayor said approximately $130,000 in grant funds will be used for education and system start‑up,…