{"id":976,"date":"2025-10-14T01:14:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T01:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/976\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T01:14:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T01:14:15","slug":"leaders-say-closing-this-facility-will-save-city-2m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/976\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaders say closing this facility will save city $2M"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014 WPTV learned why Port St. Lucie is closing a solid waste drop-off center next January.<\/p>\n<p>This comes after we&#8217;ve covered trash collection issues in the area for years.<\/p>\n<p>WATCH: Closure could save city and taxpayers around $2 million <\/p>\n<p>Why the solid waste drop-off center in Port St. Lucie is closing<\/p>\n<p>Local leaders said it\u2019ll save the city and taxpayers around $2 million. But WPTV&#8217;s Tyler Hatfield spoke to some residents who want to see it kept open. <\/p>\n<p>Taylor Shipp from Port St. Lucie used the facility because it was close to her home on Cameo Avenue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTaking it [there] was perfect,\u201d said Shipp. \u201cLiterally five minutes away from the house too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shipp said she remembers it being used often when it first opened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be packed all the way down to Crosstown Parkway,\u201d said Shipp. \u201cYou could have a line all the way there, even sometimes in the morning.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>But come Jan. 5, the city will close the facility, after citing usage being down and the cost too high to keep it running. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/news\/treasure-coast\/region-st-lucie-county\/port-st-lucie\/waste-disposal-rates-in-port-st-lucie-set-to-rise-this-november-city-officials-confirm\" class=\"ListItem \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"ListItem-category\">Port St Lucie<\/p>\n<p>    Waste disposal rates set to rise in this city<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were only about a quarter of our population that were using it,\u201d said Scott Samples, public information officer for the city of Port St. Lucie.<\/p>\n<p>Samples said the drop-off center opened in 2021, after the city&#8217;s previous waste collection vendor, Waste Pro, wasn&#8217;t collecting trash in a timely fashion.<\/p>\n<p>But Shipp said usage is down now because of restrictions at the drop-off center.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s definitely gotten stricter where, can&#8217;t take the yard waste there anymore,\u201d said Shipp. \u201cHalf the time it seems to be closed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samples said restrictions were put in place at the facility because of excessive contractor and commercial use.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/news\/treasure-coast\/region-st-lucie-county\/port-st-lucie\/port-st-lucie-residents-describe-trash-troubles-as-absolutely-horrific\" class=\"ListItem \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"ListItem-category\">Port St Lucie<\/p>\n<p>    Why residents here describe trash troubles as &#8216;absolutely horrific&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really tried to put in some restrictions that would make it more easily accessible by our residents,\u201d said Samples.<\/p>\n<p>Now, residents will have to use monthly curb-side bulk collection, schedule a pickup, or take waste to the St. Lucie County landfill.<\/p>\n<p>Even with $2 million worth of savings for taxpayers, Shipp said it should remain open.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving this makes a big difference,\u201d said Shipp. \u201cIt helps clean up the neighborhoods and it doesn&#8217;t look trashy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014 WPTV learned why Port St. Lucie is closing a solid waste drop-off center&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,1565],"class_list":{"0":"post-976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news","11":"tag-solid-waste-drop-off-center"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}