“We’re up to 4,500 signatures so far. We got signs out all over the city," said Lacy Shirey, who created Chesapeake Recycles. She said she and others want to save the city-run service from stopping in June.

On Tuesday, Shirey spoke at Chesapeake's city council meeting as leaders discuss the future budget.

“We feel this is a basic service that the city should be offering," said Shirey. 

In March, Chesapeake city leaders decided to end the curbside recycling program, moving the program’s funds toward staffing shortages for waste management and public safety services. City leaders gave three options for people to use.

One of them is to use a private service.

“The cost of the recycling to the city-managed contract is around $5.35 per household per month. What we’re seeing through these private contractors is that your cost per household could be between $14 and $19 per month," said Shirey. 

The other options include having folks use only one waste bin and/or dropping off their recyclables at designated locations.

“Usually we see that those become dumpsites. So they do require to be manned by the city so that’s a cost to our city," said Shirey. "And I doubt they’re gonna be manned 24 hours a day so it also requires security and all of that comes at a cost." 

Chesapeake Mayor Rick West said the private companies have strict specifications on what people can recycle, but he’s asking people to stay calm.

“I understand a lot of people are upset about it. As I said, I was not necessarily in favor of it, but let’s be patient. Let’s try, let’s see if there’s a better way and if not and we’ll see if we get enough people to reconsider," he said. 

City leaders are scheduled to vote on a final budget on May 10, 2022.