New recycling system for Manatee County already generating more recycling

Mark Kelly and his wife used to rarely recycle. They would instead put out two garbage cans full of trash every week.

But over the past few months, the East Manatee residents have started to regularly recycle, thanks to Manatee County’s new single-stream recycling program. They’re putting out less trash every week.

“It just made it easier,” Kelly said. “I just think the container itself made it easier. To be able to put everything in it that’s recyclable and wheel it out just made it easier.”

This positive sentiment about the 64-gallon recycling carts, which were delivered last year to residents living in unincorporated Manatee County, is being voiced by most participants, according to Jeanné Detweiler, the county’s solid waste enforcement superintendent.

“A lot of new recyclers came into play,” Detweiler said. “It is more convenient. We have a lot more recycling.”

In fact, the county has seen almost a 47 percent increase in items recycled from October through December 2016 over the same period in 2015. Between October to December 2015, there were 4,587 tons recycled but in that same period in 2016, the county saw a 2,143-ton increase, to 6,730 tons recycled.

“That’s huge,” Detweiler said.

Single-stream recycling eliminated the need for residents to sort the recyclables into two bins.

“The sorting, the size of the recycling container itself and the fact it’s on wheels made all the difference,” Kelly said.

Of the 107,000 recycling carts given out, only 820, or 0.8 percent, were not accepted or returned by the customers, according to Detweiler.

“Some of it was size and some of it was folks that didn’t want to participate in recycling,” she said. “The bulk of it was probably size of the carts. Once they got the cart and tried for 90 days, they ended up keeping it.”

Waste Pro and Waste Management started delivering the carts in July and finished Sept. 30. There was no cost to the county or taxpayers with the new system as Waste Management and Waste Pro purchased the new containers.

The new program was another step in the county’s goal to increase participation in recycling. By 2020, the county is aiming to reach the state’s 75 percent recycling goal, which means only 25 percent of solid waste generated in the county will be buried in the landfill.

“The more we can divert from it the better it will be,” Detweiler said.

Manatee County hit the 52 percent recycling mark at the end of 2015, but the 2016 percentage will not be available until this summer. The county has previously said they need to be at 60 percent by the end of 2016.

“There will be an increase in recycling rate,” Detweiler said.

But since the single-stream recycling program didn’t fully take effect until Oct. 1, the 2017 number may reflect a larger increase, Detweiler said.

Single-stream recycling is becoming the norm across the state. About 65 percent of Florida counties are either already using the program or in the process of switching to the program, Detweiler said.

“It’s growing,” she said.

The county is hoping to increase the number of individuals recycling by targeting businesses and multifamily residential units next, Detweiler said.

“That’s a big area to cover there,” she said. “This has been a very successful effort all together, and I hope for the residents of Manatee County this has been more of a convenience for them to join in recycling and understand the importance.”

With the county’s motto “Recycle All Together — Recycle Right,” the future education and outreach efforts will be ensuring individuals are recycling properly.

“Our education and outreach focus has shifted to what goes inside the cart,” Detweiler said. “Our education and outreach efforts have always been trying to get people to recycle. Now it is getting people to put right items in the cart and put it out properly. That’s our main focus right now.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2017 at 5:58 PM with the headline "New recycling system for Manatee County already generating more recycling."