Special Waste
As provided by Resolution No. 96-R11

It is the policy of Columbia County that waste other than normal Class I or Class III waste, as determined by the Solid Waste Director requires calling the Solid Waste Department at (386)752-6050 prior to disposal.

Prohibited Waste Not Accepted:

• Automobile Gas Tanks
• Any Free Flowing Liquids
• Any Hazardous/Toxic Waste

Residential Household Paints, Pesticides and Chemicals:  
Small quantities of paint and chemicals are accepted from individual residential households only no businesses to include latex or oil based paint, household pesticides or cleaners in 1 gallon containers or smaller at a rate of $75.00 per ton. These items are placed in a storage area until such time a Hazardous Waste Contractor comes in and inventories packages and ships to a Hazardous Waste Facility.

Waste Collection Contractor:
Columbia County administers the contract for your curbside collection through a company known as Veolia, which provides for once (1) a week pickup for household garbage, and yard waste. Be sure that your items are at the curb by 7:00 A.M. on your collection day.

Recycling Department 

For your convenience there are two drop-off locations in Columbia County

The locations are:
1) Branford Highway - EMS Station # 1
2) Winfield Solid Waste Facility - 7:00 AM to 4:30 PM - Mon. - Fri.

What's Recycled in Columbia County:

Newspaper: No Magazines, catalogs or phone books.

Glass: Bottles and Jars-Clear glass only - remove lids, No glasses, window panes, Pyrex or dishes.

Metal Cans: Remove food residue, labels ok.

Aluminum Cans: Remove any liquid.

Plastic Soda Bottles: Clear and Green #1

Plastic Milk Jugs: Natural colors only #2

These items are also collected at the Solid Waste Department with the inclusion of corrugated cardboard, must be clean, dry and no wax coating.
 

Prohibited Items not accepted:

Containers that contained a hazardous material such as:

• Petroleum products
• Pool chemicals
• Pesticides
• 5 gallon buckets.

Mosquito Control Department

There are more than 75 mosquito species in Florida, individual counties may have 40 species, fewer than two dozen species throughout Florida are important enough as pest or vectors to warrant control, however, and in given locality, this number is usually less than five.

The first step in determining which mosquitoes poses a nuisance, or is an economic or health-related pest or vector. A nuisance mosquito bothers people, typically in and around homes or in a recreational area. 

One definition of a health related mosquito problem is the ability of a mosquito to transmit infectious diseases. In Florida, this definition includes only mosquitoes that spread dog heartworm, St. Louis Encephalitis and Eastern Equine Encephalitis. However, any mosquito that bites or annoys people can be considered a health problem, particularly for individuals that are allergic to mosquito bites or which suffer from entomophobia, (i.e. A fear of insects).

Habitat/Source Reduction

Mosquito habitats and ways individuals can protect themselves from mosquito attack. Source reduction is usually the most effective of the techniques available and is accomplished by eliminating mosquito breeding sites.

Containers

This can be a simple as properly discarding old containers which hold water capable of producing Aedes aegypti, A.e. albopictus or Culex spp. Containers such as flower pots, cans and tires are excellent habitats for mosquitoes to breed. A container breeding mosquito problem can be solved by properly disposing of such items, covering them or tipping them over to ensure that they do not collect water.

Water

Small man-made ponds, storm water or waste water retention areas are also excellent breeding habitats, effective control include period drainage, providing deep water sanctuary for predator / larvivorious fish, minimizing emergent and standing vegetation and maintaining steep banks.

Swamps

Environmental laws greatly restrict habitat manipulation in these areas, making permanent control here difficult, which can produce Culex, Anopheles, and Culiseta species of mosquitoes.

Temporarily Flooded Locations

Pastures and agricultural lands are enormous mosquito producers, frequently generating huge broods of mosquitoes, (Aedes, Psorophora and Culex). Improved drainage is one effective tool to generate source reduction.

Treatments Provided

Adulticiding

Columbia County provides for spraying the county using various chemicals to kill adult mosquitoes, and are generally applied using a truck mounted ULV spray unit. 

Larviciding

Columbia County provides for the chemical treatment of larval mosquitoes (either I-IV Instar) by applying chemicals to roadside ditches, swales, retention ponds, treatment ponds and small bodies of water, man-made ponds. Most currently used larvicides, when applied properly, are efficacious and environmentally safe, both to aquatic animals and humans.

Spraying Requirements

Florida Statues on mosquito surveillance are concerned only with the monitoring of adults. According to these statues, before adulticides can be applied, a monitoring program must detect an increase in the population above a predetermined baseline. Or by using a techniques known as Landing Rates, landing rates are determined using this technique comprises a count of the number of mosquitoes that land on a person in a given amount of time. This is useful for evaluating activity for day biting, and container breeding mosquitoes, which are common around homes. Also used is telephonic service request, which citizens can call the Mosquito Control Department at 386-752-6050 to log a complaint and request mosquito control services.