Lee Co. fines trash company for “substandard” performance in Lehigh Acres

Published: Updated:

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla.- Some Lehigh Acres residents want the county to dump their waste management company after weeks of delayed service.

Lee County commissioners are fining Progressive Waste Solutions nearly $375,000 for a list of violations including failure to collect recyclable, solid, electronics and vegetative wast, collect bulky items and respond to customers in a timely manner.

Progressive’s Area Manager Kurt Salac says the bulk of complaints came in in first two weeks of the new service. Salac says, complaint are down from 75-80 a day to about three calls a day, but some residents say they still aren’t happy with the service.

“I think it’s the worst thing Lee County ever did. I wish they would go back to the old system,” said resident Judith Brown.

She says people in the neighborhood have been having problems with their trash pick up ever since the county changed services on Oct. 5. The county decided to change from manual to automated pick up and reduce the number of collection days to once a week, factors Salac says contributes to the delayed or missed pick up.

“Either they’ll pick up the garbage and leave the recycle or they’ll pick up the recycle and leave the garbage and it will sit out here two weeks before they get someone out here to pick it up,” said Brown. “We have more recycle than we have garbage and the animals get in it and tear the bags open and then I have to go out and clean it up because they won’t pick it up if it’s on the ground.”

Residents in the area say they aren’t sure a fine will help get the job done.

“I don’t know if that would do it or not,” said Brown. “One person told me when I called that they had cut the amount of people so it seems to me like the lack of help is a lot of their problem.”

Whatever the reason, Brown says she wants it fixed, fast.

Progressive says they’ve already met with the county once and laid out their plan to fix the problems. The company says they will meet with the county again to appeal that fine.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.