The curbside recycling contractor for Little Rock, North Little Rock and Sherwood will begin auditing recycling bins Monday to determine repeat offenders of the recycling service.
City mayors will decide June 9 what consequences will be for residents who put nonrecycleable materials in their recycling bins three times as part of the three-strikes policy that contractor Waste Management wants to put in place.
The amount of trash thrown in recycling bins has increased in recent months, according to Waste Management. The contractor reported in March that about 40 percent of recycling loads were being thrown into the landfill, where Waste Management pays a landfill tipping fee.
How much the auditing will cost is unclear. Phone calls to a Waste Management representative weren't returned Tuesday or Wednesday.
Waste Management has said it is losing money on its seven-year recycling contract with the cities because of low commodity prices. It could save money through improved recycling even with the auditing expenses, according to Regional Recycling and Waste Reduction District Deputy Director Carol Bevis.
The district is a state agency that operates only in Pulaski County, and it facilitated the contract between Waste Management and the three cities.
Recycling is voluntary in all three cities, meaning people choose to pay for the service. The recycling program has about a 75 percent participation rate.
The district board will decide at its quarterly meeting June 9 how residents would be penalized after tainting their recycling with trash three times. Bevis said the penalty could be a fine or the removal of the recycling bin from the home.
"They will have some type of penalty if it's flagged three times," she said.
The audit will include an inspection of the bin on the home's curb, Bevis said. If the bin is contaminated with trash, it will be tagged and will not be picked up. If a household gets three tags, Waste Management will penalize the household.
"Unfortunately, I think it's necessary that we strengthen the rules on the abusers," North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith said Tuesday.
Smith said he believes Waste Management should take away bins as a penalty. He said the city has already removed recycling bins from probably 200 to 300 homes for repeated failure to properly recycle.
North Little Rock doesn't have garbage bins, so people might be confused by the recycling bins and throw trash in them initially, Smith said. The city tries to educate residents after the first time, Smith said, but bins are removed after repeated failure to comply.
"I can see where it's confusing, but if you ask more than once to play by the rules, then it's time to pull their carts," he said.
Smith said the city would consider requests to get recycling bins back after they've been taken away.
"I'm sure that we would be real receptive to someone who had their bin removed if they took the time to request it can come back, and that point in time we would have a conversation with them about their inability to follow the rules the first time around," he said.
Smith said he anticipates administration issues more related to people asking to get bins back after moving into a home once flagged for contaminating recycling.
In the coming weeks the district will roll out a recycling education campaign through radio, television and newspaper advertisements on what's acceptable to place in a recycling bin.
Bevis said people should already know that they can't recycle some of the things they place in recycling bins, such as dead animals and used needles.
The bins have guides as to what can be recycled: paper, plastic, glass and metal. Paper and aluminum cannot have food residue on them, and aerosol cans must be empty. Additionally, propane tanks are not accepted because of flammable residue on the tanks, and complex metal objects such as guns and chainsaws are not allowed because the machinery at the materials recovery facility can't break them down.
More details on what is acceptable can be found at: regionalrecycling.org/residential/curbside/.
Metro on 06/02/2016