To try to clean up the city’s recycling, the city of Dallas is going to start conducting audits of people’s blue bins. And if people don’t clean up their act, the city will take away their bin. “No one wants a new landfill in their backyard,” said Bruce Magnuson, general manager of FCC Environmental. Every day, FCC Environmental Services processes about 40 tons of recyclable materials in just one hour.
But about 10 tons of that contains contaminants that harm the good materials. The contaminants can also damage equipment, or worse. “Our number one concern sometimes people put in things that can harm our people,” Magnuson said. Magnuson said a lot of the contaminated material is probably put there by well-intentioned people.
Some of the most common mistakes are string of lights and garden hoses. “That wraps around the equipment and makes it stop,” Magnuson explained. To clean up Dallas’ recycling, Danielle McClelland, manager of the city’s Zero Waste Division, said notices will go to areas flagged as sources of the contamination. “Recycling contamination is a major concern,” she said. The city will be “taking a peek” in those recycling bins.