EL PASO, Texas (CBS4) — More and more cities across America are suspending their recycling programs.
“If I could’ve looked back 12 years ago and said this, I would be shocked, ‘no it’s not going to be that bad,’” Ellen Smyth, director of the Environmental Services Department, said.
China stopped taking America’s recycles last year which was an incredible hit to the market. And here in El Paso, “what kills us is the contamination because that’s what we have to pay for on top of everything else,” Smyth said.
Smyth says 30 to 40 percent of the items people recycle are actually trash and this year the city will spend around $600,000 on decontamination.
With the market struggling after China closed its doors, it's coupled with high contamination.
“When we started 12 years ago we made $1,000,000 the first year so they were selling, the markets were hot, hot, hot, the prices were up the contamination was low,” Smyth said. “But for the last probably four years we haven’t made any money, the city.”
She says the city spends about $3,600,000 a year on recycling and the only way to cut the cost is by notifying households when they are violating the rules.
If you find a red tag on your recycling bin, that means you have prohibited items inside, and it’s a three-strike system. After three strikes your bin is taken and you can only get it back by taking a class or waiting six months.
Smyth says the inconsistent rules across state lines is one reason El Paso is struggling with this.
“We have people here in the military, Fort Bliss, people coming and going and we have a lot of immigrants, a lot of migrants coming and going from different places. Where they came from the rules are just different,” she said.
CBS4 asked people if they think recycling is something the city should be investing in.
“It’s important that we recycle to keep our environment safe,” Juan Flores said.
“There is a lot of trash. The less trash we can have laying around the streets, the better,” Antonio Castillo.
The Environmental Services Department has a list of prohibited items
