Photo courtesy of city of Jefferson

As the city of Jefferson continues to see improved success with the change to single stream recycling, there are some reminders to help city crews out.

Public Works Director Dave Morlan says a big issue that is happening is overloading the green recycling bins with cardboard.

“They need to be mindful that if they just stuff it in there, when that truck comes down the street to dump it, that claw’s going to come out and squeeze that can, and if it’s just stuffed in there and packed in there, it’s not going to come out of the can after the claw squeezes it. They want to try and fold the cardboard or cut it in some way that it’s fairly loose in the can, so that when he picks it up and dumps it, it just comes right out.” 

Morlan points out another issue is finding styrofoam with the recyclables. He emphasizes that styrofoam can not be recycled and must be with regular garbage. He stresses that the company that handles the city’s recycling is Metro Waste Authority, and they will issue a fine to the city when they do an audit of the recycling and find items that are not recyclable.