WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — Winter Garden city leaders may scrap recycling collection.

A proposed ordinance will be read before the city council on Thursday that would kill current requirements to provide the service.

Charlie Pioli, the CEO of O-Town compost, says he’s disappointed in the potential impact it could have.

He founded O-Town Compost five years ago in Orlando, with the goal of reducing the amount of food waste going to Central Florida landfills by making compost to support our local food system.

“It gets us closer to having to permit more landfill space, which is going to be a burden for taxpayers in Orange County,” said Pioli. “There’s still a case both economic and environmental for recycling, and we need to look beyond the short term, it doesn’t continue the life of these recycled materials, which create jobs. They become products down the line and continue to generate economic activity.”

Orange County officials say their landfill opened in 1971 — and a materials recovery facility which is where recyclables are processed, is in the planning stages at the landfill. 

Currently, the county says it sends recyclable materials off-site.

In the ordinance language, the city of Winter Garden says a significant portion of recycled materials collected by the city end up in the landfill because they’re not marketable for recycling. It also adds market conditions related to the collection of recycled materials have resulted in a significant increase in cost.

City officials say the ordinance is in the best interest of the public.

Thursday’s meeting starts at 630 p.m. while a second reading and public hearing is on Dec. 12 at city hall.

If the city decides to discontinue recycling services, it would take effect in January.