Recycling's routines

Just over one month into Medical Lake’s new curbside recycling program and the phones at City Hall have quieted down.

Not that they were ringing off the hook prior to the program’s start Aug. 5, but City Administrator Doug Ross acknowledged that City Hall’s front office staff did field a lot of strong complaints prior to start up.

“To us, 10 is a lot,” Ross said.

Most of the complaints were about the size of the blue, single-stream, wheeled-recycling carts, which with a 96-gallon capacity stand about 4 feet tall and a couple feet square at the mouth. Ross said the city’s contractor, Sunshine Disposal and Recycling, found that the larger carts were necessary for two reasons: pick up is every other week, requiring some storage capacity and that recyclables are so light that any smaller container could get knocked over by a strong wind or by animals.

The result would be the scattering of a resident’s two-weeks worth of newspapers, cardboard, cans and other recyclables all over the resident’s yard — along with his neighbors, and maybe their neighbors and the rest of the street.

Now that the program is underway, Ross said they have received very few calls about recycling. If they do get one, it’s generally somone asking what day is pick up day, information that can be found on the city’s website.

Ross said the city is now receiving a lot of positive comments regarding the service. Some residents have discovered that the 96-gallon cart is too much for their needs, and consequently they are able to downsize to the smaller 64-gallon or even a 35-gallon size.

Residents who re-evaluate their recycling and downsize not only offset the extra cost of the city’s new service — which added $3 to the monthly garbage fee — but also save a little extra. According to the city’s website, the 96-gallon garbage service runs $38.31 per month while the 64-gallon service is $28.69 and the 35-gallon cart $17.52.

Not everyone can do this, and Ross said residents should examine their recycling habits closely. Residents should also be sure to check the information on the cart’s lid to make sure what they toss in the container is able to be recycled.

While the curbside recycling program is mandatory for residents, efforts have also taken place to reach out to local business and apartment complex owners to get them involved in recycling. Ross said the last time he talked with Sunshine officials, they had indicated that businesses and apartment complexes had been contacted in Medical Lake, and recycling options had been discussed.

Sunshine’s president, Marc Torres, said they began contacting businesses, owners of multi-family complexes and large users July 13, and that the reception to participating in a recycling program was well received overall. The largest commercial users in the city, Medical Lake School District, has elected to implement Sunshine’s program, as have several other businesses, with the owner of a number of small, multifamily units interested as well.

“We’ll continue to make repeat stops to people we haven’t spoken to,” Torres said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].