Alabama City Cracks Down on Residential Recycling Contamination

The city of Foley, Ala. is facing issues as its residents are tossing way too much garbage into recycling bins.

Darrel Russel, City of Foley Public Works, said that the town is seeing more than just trash in the recycling bins and the issue is costing the city thousands of dollars.

“We are finding more pizza boxes, glass, even animal carcasses,” Russell said.

“We were paying $15 a ton to haul our recyclables to the landfill, but it has increased to $60 a ton if we send them a contaminated load.”

Now, the city is cracking down. If a resident is found to be throwing trash or other non-recyclable materials into curbside recycling bins, they will receive a notice from the city.

“We will take your can if we catch you so many times, or we will put a tag on it and say, ‘Hey look, you are doing this, you need to stop this,’ so we will revoke your can,” Russell said.

Read the full article here.