Citing dumpster contamination and the high cost of providing the service, St. Louis has ended its alleyway recycling program. But Jess Watson is not giving up hope that it could return in the future.
“I am very disappointed that we haven't tried some other potential fixes before just ending it completely. And I think that there are many ways that we can do better.”
Watson is calling on the city to create a citizen-led Recycling Task Force that would be charged with determining why alley bins contain so much non-recyclable waste and how the cost of recycling pickup could be reduced. The coalition would also examine whether communication could be improved through better recycling dumpster stickers, educational flyers and signs.
Some residents, however, aren’t convinced that contamination stems from a failure of communication.
“This recycling program wasn't complicated. There are pictures on the recycling dumpster of what to put in,” said Michael Josef von Gebel. “The onus was on the residents to get it right, and a segment of them chose to be lazy.”
Micci D’Angelo said she’s grateful the city decided to end the service.
“Having observed the blue alley dumpsters overfilled with smelly garbage, tires, tree limbs and everything else that shouldn't be in there, it was time to allocate our scarce resources to a manageable purpose,” she said.
A rollout cart recycling program that residents could opt into would eliminate contamination challenges, according to Watson.
“With alley dumpsters, anyone can contaminate and no one knows who did it,” she said. “Roll carts result in lower contamination because families have more control and also feel more responsibility about what goes in them.”
Over the next three months, the city plans to expand the number of recycling drop-off sites, with the goal of having a location within a mile of every resident. The city will also audit refuse collection and billing in an effort to bring in more funding for waste pickup.
Residents will continue to be charged a $14 monthly fee for refuse collection. Despite the charge being implemented at the same time as recycling services in 2011, the fee is not exclusive to recycling — it covers all trash pickup.
For more on the challenges and costs involved in recycling, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
