SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. - Santa Rosa County says it will resume its recycling program the first week of February.
"To help ensure it is successful, county staff will be taking extra steps to ensure collected recyclables are not contaminated with non-recyclable garbage," the county says.
The county says it will "visually inspect each load of recyclable materials during first weeks" to make sure it will be accepted by ECUA’s processing facility. This is due to the high volume of contaminants collected when the county previously participated in recycling.
"We realize people may have relaxed their recycling habits over the last year so we are asking residents to get back to the basics of recycling by simplifying what is collected to cardboard, aluminum and steel cans, and plastic bottles and jugs," said Michael Schmidt, environmental director. “All items placed in the recycling bin must be clean and dry. Once we are confident the materials we receive are not contaminated, we will begin hauling recyclables to ECUA for processing.”
Santa Rosa County residents are encouraged to place only the following items in their curbside recycling bin:
- Clean cardboard (no newspaper)
- Clean and dry aluminum and steel cans (no pet food cans due to the plastic liner)
- Clean and dry plastic bottles and jugs
Each load of recyclables collected will be identified geographically. Neighborhoods generating unacceptable levels of contaminants in their recycling containers could be disqualified from the program.