Pasco County Utilities is launching an online survey to ask Pasco County residents about their solid waste and recycling practices. The survey will only take a few minutes to complete and will be available online from February 6, 2017, through March 31, 2017, at the following link: www.surveymonkey.com/r/RecyclePasco2017.

The goal of the survey is to expand recycling efforts and to help delay the financial impact of expanding Pasco County’s Waste-to-Energy Facility (WTE), which is near capacity.

“If we do nothing, the Facility will require an expansion to begin by 2022,” said Flip Mellinger, Assistant County Administrator for Utilities. “The cost of that expansion, which includes adding a fourth burner, is projected to be approximately $190 million – not counting inflation – which the citizens of Pasco County will have to pay for through increased fees.”

Mellinger says the longer Pasco County is able to hold off on the WTE expansion, the more time the County will have to secure and grow the funding needed to pay for it.

One key way to delay the WTE expansion is to get more Pasco County residents to take part in curbside recycling, which all County-licensed haulers provide.

* Pasco County recycles just 1.4 percent of residential trash
* Only 27 percent of eligible Pasco County households use curbside recycling
* By 2030, the goal is to recycle 35 percent of total household and commercial trash

Every Pasco County resident who starts recycling will play an important role in deferring the WTE expansion. Take the short Recycling Survey to get involved and to be heard.