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Waste Management highlights service levels and urges residents to "recycle right"
Summary
Waste Management told the commission Fernandina Beach receives seven-day service downtown and relatively low resident rates; the company outlined tonnage trends, recycling-market shifts since China's mid-2010s policy changes, and invited commissioners to a June 13 Republic recycling facility tour.
Greg Huntington, senior account executive for Waste Management (WM), presented WM's annual report to the commission and described service levels, tonnage trends and recycling challenges.
Huntington said WM provides once-weekly carted garbage, once-weekly recycling and weekly bulk pickup to roughly 6,880 residential units in the city; he cited 2023 municipal solid waste tonnage of 5,764 and 1,181 tons of recyclables for that year, and said 2024 and early 2025 data show increases in both garbage and recycling with recycling participation rising. He said the city's resident monthly rate for WM-provided services is $28.73 and contrasted that with an unincorporated Nassau County open-market example where residents pay $69.28 for less frequent services.
On recycling markets, Huntington traced a market shift after China began reducing imports of recyclables and cited the mid-2010s as the turning point that reduced global demand, explaining why some commodity values fell. He said WM collects recyclables and delivers them to a regional MRF contracted through Republic Services for processing, and invited commissioners to a June 13 tour of the Republic facility to see sorting rules and material recovery practices.
Huntington also described WM's investments (landfill methane-to-energy projects, AI sorting in material recovery facilities), its local operations and community contributions (event support, partnerships with local nonprofits), and said WM's local complaint ratio is very low. Commissioners thanked WM and scheduled follow-up as needed.
