Starting this week, if you live in parts of unincorporated Lee County, you will have to bring your trash to the curb a little earlier than usual.
Lee County says if you live in Pine Island, Matlacha, North Fort Myers, Fort Myers Shores, Alva, Lehigh Acres, South Fort Myers and the Village of Estero, you're asked to place your trash at the curb at 5 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. This change is in an effort to allow Solid Waste Pro drivers to beat the heat we've been experiencing here in Southwest Florida.
"As you know, July, August and September are some of Southwest Florida's hottest months," said Paul Flores, the solid waste operations manager. "The county made a decision in response to concerns about worker safety and their health. Our aim is to try to prevent extreme, dangerous heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion and even heat stroke. So it took collaboration and coordination with Waste Pro on that."
This does not impact the day of the week residents will have their materials collected. Flores says this change, though temporary, will be in place until October or at least the next few months until we get some cooler weather. It is subject to change.
"We are not changing any of the basic collections. So, if the resident's collection normal day's Tuesday, you will be collected on Tuesday. We do ask that residents put out their trash, recyclables and yard waste and bulky items the night before so that if the collection crew starts at 5 a.m., that they're able to provide service without disrupting any services for our residents," Flores said.
If you'd like to find out what your collection day is, visit www.leegov.com and input your address into the “Resident Information Lookup” on the home page.
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