SORRENTO, Fla. — Many Lake County residents say they’ve been dealing with delayed trash pickup for months.

Spectrum News first reported on the issue back in November when county officials blamed a new trash hauler, as well as back-to-back hurricanes, for the delays.

What You Need To Know

  • Some Lake County residents say they have been dealing with delayed trash pickup for months

  • Sorrento resident Christa Gandenberger told Spectrum News her trash hasn't been picked up in nearly three weeks
      
  • Lake County officials say the new contractor, FCC, only had 90 days to prepare for pickup in the county, when the industry standard is one year 

  • Back-to-back hurricanes also contributed to the ongoing delays, they said

Sorrento resident Christa Gandenberger said she’s loved every part of the rural lifestyle she's experienced in the 24 years she's lived in Lake County. But recently, she says there’s been a stinky problem her neighborhood is experiencing.

"Thursday it’ll be three weeks since we’ve had garbage pick-up," she said. 

While this isn’t a new problem, she said it’s becoming more and more persistent

"This is the longest period of time we’ve gone without garbage collection," Gandenberger said. "But there have been other times it’s been a week or 10-days."

Gandenberger said the delayed pickup started when Lake County switched waste management contractors in November. Lake County officials say the new contractor, FCC, only had 90 days to prepare, when the industry standard is one year.

Fast-forward two months, now the county is saying the contractor is working on new mapping software to better identify routes. But Gandenberger wonders why that wasn't done prior to the county-wide implementation. 

"I think the county needs to reevaluate their contract," she said. "I would assume there is some part in that contract that the vendor suffers a consequence for non-performance."

Gandenberger said her background as an employee of the Orange County Utilities Department makes her wonder if the vendor is not up to the task. She said government bidding contracts are never easy, but many times agencies are required to take the lowest bid.

"Something fell through the cracks, that’s the first time in 24 years that I’ve been here," said Gandenberger, nothing that the previous vendor did not have the same issues with delayed pickup.

With the county continuing to grow, Gandenberger hopes this trash issue is resolved sooner rather than later..

Lake County officials told Spectrum News that the contractor, FCC, is beginning to use three new trucks this week, in order to reach rural unpaved parts of the county.

Anyone experiencing a collection delay is asked to call the Solid Waste department to report it.