JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Your recycling bin could soon get a report card. The City of Jacksonville is rolling out a new education campaign that will tag non-compliant bins in an effort to cut down on waste.
The nine-month program called “The Recycling Partnership” will kick off in a couple weeks.
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“We just want to do everything the right way so we can communicate to the community and help out to change the way of living,” Jamale Simpson, a Lead Point employee, said.
Simpson will join a group of people who will look through your recycling for possible mistakes. Organizers said it’s important to note, they will not touch or sift through your recycling.
One of the most common mistakes is putting your recyclables into a plastic bag. The City reminds neighbors to keep items loose in your bin.
Read: ‘Recycling report card’ could help save the city of Jacksonville hundreds of thousands
“Anything in a plastic bag goes directly to the landfill,” Council Vice President Ron Salem said.
Salem pushed for the campaign, which is being paid for with a $560,000 grant. He said before the pandemic, about 19% of bins were wrong. That percentage has since spiked to 27%.
Read: How non-perishable food items and your mail carrier can help end hunger in Jacksonville
“We have to pay to take that material from recycling over on the Northside over to the landfill way on the Westside. That wastage is costing the city about $250 thousand dollars a year,” he said.
Groups will visit your recycling bin four different times in the nine-month span of the program. If you get a warning, crews will still take your bin. If you get a rejection tag, you will have to fix the problems before crews come back.
Information on what can and cannot be recycled can be found here: COJ.net - Curbside Recycling
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