Starting July 1, the now familiar blue recycling bags that have dotted the city on trash day will be a thing of the past as the city of Wooster transitions to the use of recycling bins for the citys new, revitalized curbside recycling program.
During a June 6 presentation for Wooster City Council, Susan Lent, Waste Managements public sector services representative, noted that to prepare for the launch of the new program, Waste Management began delivering 18-gallon green recycling bins to every household in the city June 7.
According to Lent, the process of delivering the new bins is expected to continue throughout June.
Be assured you will receive one, said Lent, noting that anyone who doesnt receive a bin by the end of June should contact the city.
The new recycling effort will officially launch with the trash collection scheduled for the first week in July.
Beginning July 1, residents can simply toss their recyclables into the bin without sorting them by the type of material to be recycled. The sorting and processing of the materials for recycling will take place at the companys MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) in Oakwood.
Lent noted that because Waste Management has contracts for all of the recyclable materials they collect, local residents can be assured that none of the materials will find their way to landfills.
The new program has the benefit of accepting more materials than the existing curbside recycling program, including flattened cardboard, magazines, office paper, brown paper bags, newspapers, paperboard products such as food packaging, paperboard dairy and juice containers, junk mail, plastic bottles, glass bottles, glass jars, aluminum cans, tin cans and steel cans.
A complete list of items that will be accepted under the new program will be delivered inside the bin and will be listed on the citys website for future reference.
Transitioning to the bin system also means that residents will no longer have to incur the expense of purchasing blue bags in order to participate in the citys recycling efforts.
Now everybody in the whole city will have free access to these bins and you will be able to enjoy the benefits of recycling and keeping our community greener and diverting more trash from our landfills, said Lent.
To participate in the program, residents are asked to place their recycling bin 10 feet away from their trash bags on their normal trash pickup day.
Should residents have extra recyclables that do not fit into the bin, they have a number of options, including bundling newspapers or cardboard items and placing them in paper grocery bags. Using blue bags or even old recycling bins from other programs are options as well.
If you still have an old recycling bin from years past you can also use that for additional material but always use your green Waste Management one first..and set them together so we can identify it as recycling, said Lent.
If a resident discovers that they are continually filling their recycling bin, an additional bin will be made available to them, Lent added.
With the enhancements made to the citys program, we really feel this will increase recycling, said Lent.
Councilman Mike Buytendyk thanked Waste Management for their efforts in getting the new program underway.
Waste Management has been a very good partner with the city of Wooster, said Buytendyk, noting that through the citys most recent contract with the company, city residents have actually seen a reduction in their trash bills.
For a list of materials that will be accepted under the new recycling program, log on the citys website at http:www.woosteroh.com.
