City of Fort Walton Beach residents will start receiving twice-weekly garbage collection next month after the city finalized its new sanitation schedule.
- The expanded service begins Monday, Oct. 5, the city announced Tuesday. Residents currently on a Monday trash route will add Thursday pickup. Those on a Tuesday route will add Friday.
The City Council voted 6-1 in January to restore twice-weekly collection, a service the city eliminated in October 2014 when it launched curbside recycling. Residents now pay $29.12 monthly, up from $27.13 under the previous once-weekly model.
At $29.12, Fort Walton Beach remains the least expensive option among neighboring municipalities offering twice-weekly residential pickup. Destin charges $29.80 through Waste Management. Crestview residents pay $38.76 through Adams Sanitation. Unincorporated Okaloosa County residents pay $37.27.
“From our shareholders, our residents, increases the level of service, but we would still be the most inexpensive program in town,” Councilman David Schmidt said when the council approved the change.
- The city considered outsourcing garbage collection to a private hauler but opted to keep the service in-house.
“I think that’s one of the best services that we have as a city, period,” Mayor Nic Allegretto said in January. “Once you start getting into, oh, we’re gonna let these people run it, they can tell you what those costs are, and then you have no control of it.”
Recycling pickup days may have changed under the new schedule, and some residents will now have trash and recycling collected on the same day. The city posted an updated recycling map.
Yard waste collection remains unchanged.
The city asks residents to place trash and recycling containers at the curb the night before pickup and remove them by 7 p.m. on collection day. Containers should be spaced four feet apart and kept clear of mailboxes, trees, light poles and above-ground utilities.
More information is available at fwb.org/sanitation or by calling 850-833-9655.
