Rumpke Waste & Recycling reports that contaminated recycling in two southwest Ohio communities has been cut by almost half after the company’s multi-week curbside audit.

Beginning in May, Rumpke conducted a 1-ton audit of recycling materials from 15 samples in the cities of Fairfield and Centerville. After the audits, Fairfield cut its contamination rate from 22 percent to 12 percent, while Centerville’s contamination rate dropped from 19 percent to 11 percent, according to a Dayton Daily News report.

In July and August, trash haulers physically checked recycling bins and carts in Fairfield and Centerville. Recycling was left behind if it had too much contaminated material with a tag saying what’s allowed. Nearly half of Fairfield’s residents were given a corrective tag that either said “good try” or “oops” for having too much materials, according to the report.

The report also notes that Rumpke will begin a 10-week audit in Cincinnati, which recycles every other week.

Dayton Daily News has more:

Contaminated recycling in two southwest Ohio communities has been cut nearly in half after a multi-week curbside audit, according to Rumpke.

The citywide audits of Fairfield and Centerville, the first two communities to undergo such an examination by the trash hauler, found that Fairfield cut its contamination from 22 percent to 12 percent. Centerville customer contamination dropped from 19 percent to 11 percent.

In both communities, the recycling rate did not drop, staying “pretty level” at around 50 percent, said Rumpke spokeswoman Molly Yeager Broadwater.

Read the full article here.