FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                   
Contact:    Lindsey Sampson, Lee County Solid Waste
                 (941) 479-8181
                 Margie Byers, Lee County Solid Waste
                 (941) 479-8181
                       
LEE COUNTY WORKING THROUGH GARBAGE TRANSITION 
 
FORT MYERS, Fla. (October 6, 2000) – With the Oct. 2 changeover to new garbage haulers in unincorporated Lee County, the Town of Fort Myers Beach and the City of Bonita Springs, a number of residents have contacted the County about problems or requesting information about new garbage or recycling days.
 
The county is requesting patience as transition problems are worked out.  The magnitude of the new garbage hauler start-up is massive.   There are new drivers on new routes all across unincorporated Lee County, who are servicing over 90,000 residents three times a week!  One business owner, John Griffith, of GBSI Information Services, says,  “When you change the whole system overnight there are bound to be problems.  In our line of business, we see what happens when just one postal carrier changes routes.   I think things are going pretty well, considering the scope of the change.”
 
Lee County Solid Waste staff met with Superior Services, Inc. this afternoon to evaluate and revise their plan for resolving problems, particularly from residential developments and commercial businesses that had their dumpsters removed by the previous franchise haulers.   Superior Services has agreed to bring in additional manpower at all levels.  The plan entails bringing in additional Superior Services employees to help with the volume of customer complaints, delivery of containers, removal of waste and re-mailing of brochures to all residents in Lee County to answer questions concerning collection days. 
 
Florida Recycling Services negotiated a deal to buy the commercial and multi-family dumpsters from Waste Management, Inc. This resulted in saving Florida Recycling Services the extra work of hauling the dumpster to the locations and reducing the number of complaints received from their service areas.   Superior Services purchased new dumpsters and roll off containers, which needed to be delivered, leaving many customers with no dumpsters in the interim.  Superior Services employees will work through the weekend delivering dumpsters to affected residential complexes and businesses.  Superior Services will also revise their route maps to include houses and that were accidentally omitted.
 
If you live in North Fort Myers, Iona-McGregor, Fort Myers Beach, Estero or Bonita Springs, your new hauler is Superior Services and the customer service number is 334-1224.  If you live in South Fort Myers (west of Summerlin Road), East Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, San Carlos Park or Matlacha/Pine Island, your new hauler is Florida Recycling Services and the customer service number is 332-8500.   These customer service numbers are active, but may ring for a while due to the volume of calls.  Representatives at the numbers can give you information about your  garbage, recycling collection days.
 
Mailers were sent by the new haulers explaining the transition, however many residents have indicated that they did not receive the mailers.  Superior Services agreed to re-mail brochures to all residents in franchise areas one and four by mid week next week. 
 
The county contracts its garbage hauling services to private vendors and new five-year contracts were awarded to Superior Waste and Florida Recycling beginning Oct. 2, which is what necessitated the transition.