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Ocala, Fla., Struggles with Contamination in Recycling Bins
The city of Ocala, Fla., is currently working to reduce the amount of contaminated recycling bins found on residential collection routes.
1 Min Read
The city of Ocala, Fla., is currently working to reduce the amount of contaminated recycling bins found on residential collection routes to avoid having to pay its hauler Waste Pro an additional $63,800 annually to process the contaminated recycling waste.
Earlier this year, the city launched a two-month yellow tag program in an effort to educate residents on what can and cannot go into their recycling bins. And now the city is even going as far as considering removing recycling bins from homes if the contamination rates don’t improve.
Ocala StarBanner has more:
The city of Ocala’s efforts to decrease the amount of contamination in recycled waste collected from residential customers might need more time to see success.
At current contamination rates, the city will have to pay Waste Pro of Florida an additional $63,800 annually to process contaminated recycling waste. City staff will ask next month for a way to remove recycling customers from the program if they keep contaminating the stream.
Facing rising costs to collect and manage recycled materials earlier this year, the city council approved a plan to place yellow warning tags on recycling bins when they contained materials that collection vendors don’t recycle, such as food.
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