Plymouth citizens and businesses that have their trash and recycling through the city will see a major change in November.
During Monday’s Board of Public Works and Safety meeting Pete Callan, Municipal Account Executive with Republic Services told members the city has had a 10 year partnership with Republic Services. He also recapped the changes in recycling commodities. He said for decades China has been the largest importer of the world’s recycling commodity and the U.S. was 40% of that inbound stream. In 2017 China announced efforts to clean up their country, which included dramatic changes for acceptance criteria of imported recyclables. Additionally China banned all mixed paper from import.
Scott Carlton, Operations Manager with Republic told members the company wants to amend their interim agreement and change recycling pickup from every week to every other week beginning in November. He said current statistics show an average home in the city putting 8.64 pounds of recycling in their 95 gallon carts.
The tricky part of the amended contract is the addition of a processing fee. For the first year there will be no change but beginning in the second year, the rate could increase by a maximum of 7% each year depending on the cleanliness of the recycling material collected.
Carlton said the company will work to educate the community on what materials are acceptable and how they are to be presented. Making sure residents put clean recycling into the carts will save the city money and in-turn citizens by not having to increase the monthly bill with an additional processing fee.
The Board of Public Works and Safety unanimously voted in favor of the amended agreement with 5 votes. Council members Gary Cook and Shiloh Milner were absent from the meeting.
