IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - Recycling in Iowa City has gone up significantly in only a few months- and the city says its new recycling bins are the reason for higher participation.
Staff members with the city say since the debut of new recyclable carts in December, the refuse collection numbers show more people are participating and more recyclables are being turned in.
Assistant Superintendent of Refuse Patricia Fossum says they expected a slight increase once the carts were "rolled out," but they were surprised to see how many people have actually taken advantage of the new program.
"We knew that it was going to be successful, and we knew there was going to be an increase," Fossum said. "We didn't know there was going to be as much of an increase as we saw. Definitely not numbers we were thinking of. We were thinking 5-10 percent, not anywhere in the 20 to 30-percent range."
Fossum said she has been pleased with the results, but said the numbers could still increase in the coming months.
When compared to last year's consumption at this time, the city says recycling totals have increased by more than 30-percent.