At last — curbside recycling starts Friday in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG — The wait is over. Curbside recycling will start Friday in St. Petersburg.

The voluntary weekly service, which already has 800 subscribers, will collect newspaper, cardboard, aluminum cans, metal cans, glass and plastic.

The service will be provided by Waste Services of Florida, which already has 10,000 customers in Pinellas, 27,000 in Sarasota and 90,000 in Hillsborough.

The company already has started delivering free bins to customers, who can request a second bin if they have a larger volume of materials, said Bill Krimmel, Waste Services district manager.

Krimmel expects a high participation rate in St. Petersburg. "We already have more than 800 signed up and there has been no advertising," he said.

The city plans to include information about the program in October water bills.

To subscribe, residents must call Waste Services' Clearwater office at (727) 572-6800. The $2.75 monthly charge must be paid annually, which amounts to $33.