The City of Jacksonville pushed pause on curbside recycling pickup in the fall in order to prioritize the collection of household trash. After all that work of driving your recyclables to a dumpster at a drop-off somewhere, is the stuff getting recycled? Every bit of household recycling in North Florida ends up at the Republic Services Recycling Center in Northwest Jacksonville.
Republic Services of Jacksonville’ General Manager Bill Brinkley says since the City of Jacksonville temporarily stopped sending recycling trucks into neighborhoods, fewer recyclables are being unloaded at the center. “It’s probably about an 85 percent decline,” he said.
When the City of Jacksonville was still doing curbside recycling pick up, the amount on the conveyor belts inside the center was so thick, he could barely see the actual belt. That’s not the case now. However, what is going to the Recycling Center from Jacksonville residents now are things that are actually recyclable and there’s less trash. “So kudos to the Duval County residents who are taking the material to the drop-off sites. They’re doing a fantastic job,” Brinkley said. “It’s clean.”
Clean, meaning less contamination, or items that can’t be recycled. And contamination is “huge,” according to Brian Hughes, the Chief Administrative Officer of the Jacksonville Mayor’s Office. “Anything that goes into the recycling process stream that is not recyclable ultimately costs the city money,” Hughes noted.