RecyclingMonster - Curbside residential recycling will continue in Gretna and the Timberlane subdivision, but on the same scaled-back basis announced by Jefferson Parish in June.
Gretna Mayor Belinda Constant's office said contractor Waste Connections has informed the city that it has canceled its plans to shut the program down.
Gretna was left scrambling earlier this year after Republic Services Inc. announced plans to stop sorting residential recyclables at its Metairie facility, forcing the city and parish governments whose contractors used that facility to find another place to take the items.
Gretna, along with unincorporated Jefferson Parish, portions of New Orleans and Westwego, spent several weeks trying to work out a solution.
Waste Connections, which collects recyclables at the curb in unincorporated Jefferson and Gretna, has been putting together its own sorting facility in Harvey, and parish officials said in June that a scaled-back program had been put in place.
As in unincorporated Jefferson, residents in Gretna can recycle plastic containers labeled No. 1 and No. 2 in triangles on the bottom, along with paper products, cardboard, boxboard, steel and aluminum cans.
"It has been our priority to resume curbside recycling, and we are happy that (we are) able to do so," Constant's office said in a news release.
The city asked residents to make sure items are clean and loose — not bundled up in plastic bags, which are not recyclable. Similarly, newspapers should be removed from plastic bags.
The emphasis on keeping bins clear of soiled and nonrecyclable items is likely to emerge as a theme in Orleans and Jefferson, which plan to promote proper recycling practices in education campaigns.
The elimination of residential sorting was part of a nationwide pullback that stemmed from a policy change in China, which recently stopped taking in the kinds of highly contaminated recycling streams produced in the U.S., where items are often thrown into recycling bins without much thought as to whether they belong there.
Westwego Mayor Joe Peoples said he is still looking into options for resuming the recycling program that began there under his administration.
Westwego offers recycling to residents who want to participate for nothing more than the cost of a bin. City workers collect items from the just under 200 participating households and bring them to one of two Waste Connections containers.
Plastic numbered 3 through 7 is not accepted. Neither are glass, aerosol spray cans, containers that previously held oil paint or pesticides, and Styrofoam.
Courtesy : www.nola.com
