Pasco County will pick the consultants who help run its garbage, recycling and waste-to-energy operations at a public meeting in Land O' Lakes later this month.

An evaluation committee will meet Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 9 a.m. at the Pasco County Utilities Administration Building, 19420 Central Blvd., to score and rank proposals submitted under solicitation RSQ-SV-26-085: Continuing Professional Services for Solid Waste and Resource Recovery. The county posted the public notice on Thursday, Aug. 6.

The contract covers consulting and engineering support across all five divisions of the Solid Waste and Resource Recovery Department: Disposal-Landfill, Waste-to-Energy, Recycling & Education, Environmental Compliance & Household Hazardous Waste, and Solid Waste Assessments. Work under the contract would include regulatory compliance, planning, facility operations oversight, financial analysis and the department's Capital Improvement Program, according to solicitation details posted on Govly, a procurement tracking site.

For Land O' Lakes, Odessa and Lutz residents, the department is the entity that manages curbside trash and recycling collection, sets the annual solid waste assessment billed to homeowners and oversees the county's waste-to-energy facility in Spring Hill. That facility is in the middle of a $550 million expansion approved unanimously by commissioners in September 2023. Pasco County and operator Reworld Waste completed the structural "topping off" of the new unit in September 2025, according to a county Facebook post, with the expansion adding 160,000 tons of annual processing capacity. The original project timeline called for full capacity by September 2026, according to a 2023 Waste Dive report.

The selected consultant will advise the department as it brings that new capacity online and manages ongoing landfill, recycling and hazardous-waste programs.

Open to the public

Because the meeting falls under Florida's Sunshine Law (Section 286.011, Florida Statutes), residents may attend and observe the committee's deliberations. Evaluation committees scoring procurement proposals are required to meet in public under Florida case law.

After the committee ranks proposals, the county would negotiate with the top-ranked firm before bringing a contract award to the Board of County Commissioners for a final vote.

No date for that vote has been announced.

Residents with questions can contact the Pasco County Purchasing Department at 727-473-0025.