Solid Waste includes transporting waste and recyclables from the solid waste/recycling facilities and other collection sites, and the maintenance of five waste oil sites.

New Years Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are County and Waste Pro holidays. If your pick up day falls on one of these days, the next day will be your pick up day. All other pick ups that week will fall back one day. (Example: Monday to Tuesday, Tuesday to Wednesday, Wednesday to Thursday, Thursday to Friday, and Friday to Saturday for the remainder of that week only.)

Putnam County utilizes an environmentally sensitive program of integrated arthropod pest management to control mosquitoes. Integrated arthropod pest management is the utilization of available measures, including, but not limited to, the use of biological control agents, pesticides, and source reduction to control arthropods without an unreasonable adverse effect on the environment.
 
Putnam County’s mosquito control program is funded by the Putnam County Board of County Commissioners general fund and a State of Florida grant.
 
Much of Putnam County’s natural beauty is found in its rivers, lakes, and thousands of acres of freshwater wetlands. Unfortunately, many of Putnam’s swamps and wetlands, both privately and state owned, are breeding grounds for pestiferous, and sometimes disease-carrying mosquitoes.
 
Treating Putnam’s vast wetlands by aerial mosquito spraying is neither affordable nor environmentally recommended. Mosquito control in Putnam is focused on protecting the public living in rural and urban residential areas.
 
To serve the most Putnam County residents for the least amount of public funds, mosquito adulticiding is limited to nighttime ground ULV (ultra low volume) spraying from paved and unpaved public roads serving residential areas.

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) recommends the following actions to protect your home and your family from possible mosquito borne diseases such as West Nile
Virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and St. Louis Encephalitis.
 
1. Dusk to dawn. Stay indoors after dusk and before dawn. Most mosquitoes are night-time feeders.
 
2. Drain standing water. The majority of mosquitoes in your yard probably came from within 1,500 feet of your home, so check for standing water in boats, gutters, tires, dog bowls, bird baths, swimming pools, ditches, etc. and cut tall grass. Draining standing water at least twice a week will prevent mosquito breeding and reduce the number of mosquitoes in your yard.
 
3. Dress. Wear light color clothing, preferably long sleeve shirts, blouses, and pants when possible.
 
4. Deet. Spray clothing with mosquito repellent containing Deet before going outside for activities. Follow directions on can or bottle.
 
5. Doors. We’ve added a fifth “D” to the CDC’s list, DOORS. Keep screened doors and screened windows in good repair and tightly closed.

To request spraying call Putnam County Mosquito Control at (386) 329-0397 Monday thru Friday between the hours of 8:30am and 5pm.
 
Service requests are logged into a database and also assigned location numbers and GPS codes for mapping and tracking . Service requests confirming the presence of standing water are investigated for remediation and larviciding.
 
Remediation may require the draining of artificial breeding containers such as birdbaths or boats, the treating of contaminated swimming pools, the cutting of tall grass, or the removal of tires or yard trash. Source reduction activities, such as the clearing of blocked roadside ditches and culverts, may also require assistance from other Putnam County agencies.
 
When multiple mosquito service requests are received from the same street or neighborhood, the area is inspected for potential breeding sites. Adult mosquito landing rate counts and CDC light trap counts are taken and spray zones with verified adult mosquito counts are assigned for ULV nighttime spraying. State regulations require confirmation of elevated mosquito activity prior to ULV spraying

Putnam County utilizes several methods of mosquito surveillance to determine the presence of pestiferous and potentially disease vectoring mosquitoes.
 
Mosquito Pool Monitoring
Mosquito breeding sites such as sewer wastewater traps, roadside detention ponds, roadside ditches, and sewage treatment plants are checked (dipped) for mosquito larvae.
 
CDC Mosquito Light Traps
Co2 emitting CDC mosquito light traps, strategically placed throughout Putnam County, are monitored weekly for mosquito counts. Additional traps can be used to verify service requests called into (386) 329-0397. Mosquitoes are collected in traps by location, counted and identified by species. Counts are logged into a database to detect counts and trends in mosquito populations. State regulations require the confirmed presence of 25 or more adult mosquitoes in a trap overnight as a justification of adulticide chemical spraying. The Florida record for the most mosquitoes caught in a CDC trap overnight was over 1-million mosquitoes after a recent hurricane.
 
Sentinel Chicken Flocks
Putnam County Mosquito Control maintains four flocks, each consisting of six healthy adult domestic hens. Sentinel chicken flocks are strategically located throughout Putnam County to serve most spray zones. Sentinel chickens are much like the “canary in the coal mine” and warn public health officials of impending danger to humans as they attract hundreds, sometimes thousands, of nighttime mosquito bites.
 
Each week blood is drawn from the sentinel chickens and shipped overnight to the state blood lab in Tampa. Chicken blood is tested for the presence of West Nile Virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and St. Louis Encephalitis. When a chicken positive test is confirmed an alert goes out to VDCI to dispatch ULV (ultra low volume) nighttime spray trucks to focus on the area where disease vectoring mosquitoes have been detected.
 
Landing Rate Counts
One of the oldest and most controversial methods of mosquito surveillance is the use of landing rate counts.
 
The number of mosquitoes landing on a technician at a particular location during a timed period is an acceptable method of verifying the presence of mosquitoes and justifying the use of ULV adulticide spraying.

Putnam County utilizes several methods of mosquito surveillance to determine the presence of pestiferous and potentially disease vectoring mosquitoes.
 
Larviciding
During the service request inspection process, standing water is checked (dipped) for the presence of infant mosquito larvae. When mosquito larvae are found, a safe, biological, bacterial larvicide liquid or granule BTI is applied. The larvicides we utilize in Putnam County were developed specifically for mosquito larvae and are approved by the EPA as not harmful to fish, wildlife, or to the water supply.
 
Depending upon ditch and pond water retention characteristics, Putnam County Mosquito Control technicians may now release mosquito larvae eating minnows, called Gambusia Affinis, instead of applying expensive larvicides. Each mosquito minnow eats over 100 mosquito larvae per day.
 
Adulticiding
When phoned-in mosquito service requests are confirmed by trap counts of 25 or more mosquitoes per night, per trap, or increased landing rate counts, or sentinel chickens testing positive for West Nile Virus, Eastern Equine or St. Louis Encephalitis verify an increase in the adult mosquito population, ULV spray trucks are scheduled to be dispatched to the area and surrounding neighborhoods.
 
Currently, VDCI is under contract with Putnam County to provided ULV night-time spraying on public property such as roads, playgrounds, etc. VDCI trucks are not permitted to enter gated property or spray private roads or driveways.
 
VDCI ULV trucks spray between dusk and dawn when most mosquitoes are flying, but most bees have gone safely back inside their hives and butterflies have returned to their resting spots high in the tree tops.
 
All VDCI ULV spray applications are GPS tracked and mapped by truck number, driver, type and amount of chemical used, speed of truck, day of month, time of day.

Putnam County Mosquito Control has a 30 minute Power Point illustrated presentation explaining the history, life cycle, and control of mosquitoes in Florida.
 
This science-filled presentation is tailored to grades 5-12 life-science classes, but is also suitable as an informative, entertaining presentation for civic clubs.
 
For information about scheduling a speaker call Jay Tilton at (386) 312-8900.

• Putnam Recycles is a joint project of:
• The Putnam County Board of County
• Commissioners
• The Putnam County Sanitation Department
• Waste Pro
• Keep Putnam Beautiful
• The Citizens of Putnam County

Recycling is the right thing to do!

For Recycling Information call (386) 312-8900

• Recyclable items accepted at central landfill
• Aluminum Cans
• Metal cans – including empty aerosol cans
• Plastic Bottles #1 – #7
• Newspapers (and inserts)
• Magazines/Catalogs
• Phone Books
• Corrugated cardboard (flatten and place under blue bin)
• All Paper Products including junk mail and paperboard

Homeowners: Call (386) 328-5445 or 1 (800) 852-6132 to request your blue bin

Address: 140 County Landfill Rd -off Hwy 17 – 4 miles North of Palatka

Open: Mon – Fri 7:00am – 5:00pm; Sat 8:30am – 5:00pm
Closed: New Years Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day

• Recyclable items accepted at Central Landfill
• Waste Oil
• Waste Oil Filters
• Automotive Batteries
• Scrap Metal
• White Goods (appliances)
• Propane Tanks (empty)
• Waste Tires (without rims)
• Yard Debris (tree trimmings, branches, limbs, stumps)

Address: 140 County Landfill Rd -off Hwy 17 – 4 miles North of Palatka

Open: Mon – Fri 7:00am – 5:00pm; Sat 8:30am – 5:00pm
Closed: New Years Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day

The drop off location for “acceptable material” is at the recycle location in the rear of the Central Landfill beyond the scalehouse.

• Electronics Waste Acceptable Materials at Central Landfill:
• Computers
• Laptops
• Tablets
• Cell Phones
• Computer Components (memory, hard drives, processors, power supplies, disk drives, mother and daughter boards)
• Docking Stations
• Keyboards and Mice
• Printer Ink and Toner
• Circuit Boards (all types)
• Flat Screen TV’s
• Computer Monitors
• Printers and Copiers
• Stereo Equipment
• DVD Players
• VCR’s
• Telephones and Telephone Equipment
• Video Game Consoles
• Cable/Satellite TV Boxes
• Modems
• Routers and Switches
• Servers
• Racks
• UPS Battery Backups
• Lithium Ion Batteries
• Ink and Toner
• Medical Electronics
• Wires and Cables
• Power Supplies
• Electronics Waste Unacceptable Materials at Central Landfill:
• Hazardous Waste (including asbestos)
• PCB/Transformers/Capacitors
• Any CFCs
• Cylinders or Other Containers of Compressed Gas (including propane)
• Radioactive Materials
• Mercury / Mercury Switches
• PCB containing materials such as Capacitors or Light Ballasts
• Lead Iron Pipes
• Sealed Containers
• Liquids of Any Type
• Flammable Materials
• Trash, Garbage, Concrete and Other Non-Recyclable Items
• Broken, Cracked, or Leaking Batteries
• Materials With Strong or Objectionable Odors
• Materials Containing Asbestos
• Unidentifiable Materials
• CRT’s (old “box”-style TV)
• Household Batteries
• Railroad Scrap
• Commercial Power Cables
• No Buying Scrap Metal
• A/C Units
• Large Appliances

Address: 1551 County Rd 308 – on C.R. 308 – 4 miles West of Crescent City

Open: Mon – Sat 8:30am – 5:00pm
Closed: New Years Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day

• Recyclable Items Accepted At Huntington Recycling Center:
• Aluminum Cans
• Metal Cans – including empty aerosol cans
• Plastic Bottles
• Glass
• Waste Oil
• Waste Oil Filters
• Automotive Batteries
• Scrap Metal
• White Goods (appliances)
• Propane Tanks (empty)
• Waste Tires (without rims)
• Yard Debris (tree trimmings, branches, limbs, stumps)

Address: 111 Hickory Lane – off Hwy 20 – 1 mile West of Interlachen

Open: Mon – Sat 8:30am – 5:00pm
Closed: New Years Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day

• Recyclable Items Accepted At Interlachen Recycling Center
• Aluminum Cans
• Metal Cans – including empty aerosol cans
• Plastic Bottles
• Glass
• Waste Oil
• Waste Oil Filters
• Automotive Batteries
• Scrap Metal
• White Goods (appliances)
• Propane Tanks (empty)
• Waste Tires (without rims)

• Recycling helps protect our environment
• Recycling helps conserve our natural resources
• Recycling helps conserse our nation’s energy
• Recycling helps conserve valuable landfill space
• Recycling helps control roadside litter

Whenever possible, buy items that are either recyclable or made from recycled materials

• RECYCLING FACILITY TOURS:
• Interested groups may take a tour of our recycling facilities and County Landfill.
• Call (386) 312-8900
• PUTNAM RECYCLES PRESENTATION:
• If your class or group would like to have a speaker give a Power Point presentation about the importance and benefits of recycling.
• Call (386) 312-8900