The Town of Fort Myers Beach Public Works Department is analyzing garbage collection at the beach accesses from the street versus collection from the beach. Past practices, Town Staff has driven the Kubota’s on the beach to collect the trash from the 25 public beach accesses. Town Council and its’ Advisory Committee Marine Resources Task Force has raised concerns about the number of vehicles on Fort Myers Beach and how they are affecting environment, wildlife and tourism. Although the garbage loads are lighter in the off season, Public Works is attempting to replicate in-season conditions to determine the operational impacts of a permanent switch of methodology in order to report to Council. In our testing thus far, we are encountering two recurring concerns: adjacent beach access residences experiencing "new" early morning noise at the beach accesses and more trash on the beach in between accesses/cans. In addition, Staff currently estimates that it will take up to 2 additional hours per day assuming starting at 6:30am daily. Town Staff will present the results of the study to Town Council in August.
