CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (WTXL) — On Tuesday night, Wakulla County hosted a meeting where neighbors, local leaders, and waste management companies addressed ways to improve recycling across the county.
- There are things that can make an item non-recyclable.
- Many neighbors expressed ideas to help bring curbside pick-up back to Wakulla County.
- Watch the video below to learn more about the summit.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"Can curbside pick-up for recycling come back to Wakulla County?"
That was one of the many questions asked during a recycling summit in Wakulla County on Tuesday evening.
After Waste Pro stopped offering curbside pickup services here, company representatives, neighbors, and county leaders discussed other ways to promote recycling.
Steve Cushman with Keep Wakulla County Beautiful says that this meeting was a great start to addressing the problems with recycling in the county. Neighbors agreed that one of the biggest problems was a lack of recycling education.
"I did not realize that a label on a wine bottle is a contaminant, which can shut down the machinery. So knowing those things it's really important, so I can be a better recycler," said neighbor Erica Morse.
Waste Pro had to stop its recycling pickups in the county earlier this year, but company representatives and Marpan were present for the meeting. They broke down the costs of sorting and removing non-recyclable items.
Rei’s Recycling says that if there is still a food product in a container, it can become non-recyclable. Neighbors also learned how recycling could be contaminated.
"When we originally started recycling, we put a dumpster out at the landfill, and we were having that taken to Marpan by our guys, or Marpan would come get it. The second week, they rejected the whole entire 40-yard dumpster because it had contamination in it," explained Steve Cushman, president of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful. "Somebody threw household garbage in there instead of recycling stuff. So they rejected the whole thing."
Neighbors gave suggestions about how to make recycling easier for the public and how to let them know what to do.
"I think with the information that Keep Wakulla Beautiful could put out, if we can get all the HOA presidents involved in these meetings, as well as the people that are part of the recycling and the refuse, it'll work a lot better," said neighbor Karl Nason.
Community groups say they're willing to organize more outreach events to help educate the community.
Cushman hopes to build a committee of locals and leaders alike who can create and implement a recycling solution in Wakulla County.
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