During this morning’s Public Works Committee meeting, City Manager Jerry Moss indicated that the city’s takeover of recyclables collection has been largely successful.
Moss said there there have been some complaints about recycling not being picked up, citing one case where an elderly resident had been having his recycling previously picked up from his backyard rather than the curb, a situation of which the city had not been aware. Moss also indicated other “glitches” that needed to be worked out.
The city manager stated to the committee that the city had saved $12,000 this month by not paying a contractor to pick up recycling. Council member Lynn Harper indicated that the city was also saving on landfill fees and earning what Moss termed a “very small” revenue on the recyclables themselves.
Council member Elissa Yount stated a need to improve participation rates.
Moss stated that more weight had been collected than he thought would be.
The committee agreed to perfect the collection process before addressing the issue of participation.