Recycling program coming back
After a six-week hiatus, material put in recycling bins will once again be recycled in Deerfield Beach come Sept. 3.
But it’s best residents follow the rules of the blue bin: Recycling is going to be policed a little more closely, under the city’s new contract with Waste Management.
The contract is set to be approved at a special commission meeting on Thursday. It includes an option for the city to drop certain categories of recycling customers if an unacceptably high amount of “contaminated” or inappropriate material is found in recycling bins coming from multifamily residences, for example.
“We have some flexibility and we have more control,” said Mayor Bill Ganz, on the changes in the new contract. “We wanted something that was specific to our needs.”
The market for recycled material has crashed in recent months, and Waste Management’s fee for recycled processing increased about $45 per ton from last year.
Sunrise also decided to cease its recycling with Waste Management as a result of the new conditions.
Deerfield still will be paying that increased processing fee. But the new penalties were modified for the contaminated recycling that comes in.
For six months, Waste Management will keep recycling-contamination fees low while Deerfield analyzes the source of its high level of contamination in its recyclables.
The City Commission could decide to drop commercial and multifamily recycling if the materials coming from there are consistently more contaminated than other parts of the recycling effort. “We need to identify where the contamination is coming from,” said Rebecca Medina Stewart, city spokeswoman.
Over the last year, an average of 40 percent of the recycling coming from Deerfield Beach has been deemed “contaminated,” according to Waste Management audits, said Chad Grecsek, the city’s director of sustainable management.
Countywide, that number is around 25 percent, according to Dawn McCormick, a spokeswoman for Waste Management.
The new contract also calls for Waste Management to increase the amount of time its staff dedicates to teaching residents about what is acceptable recycling and what is not. The old contract had 40 hours of staff time and that will increase to 120 hours this year.
“In these times … it’s imperative that residents recycle only the right material and keep items, like plastic bags, food and clothing out of their bins,” McCormick said. “We’re pleased to be partnering with Deerfield Beach to make sure they have an environmentally and economically sustainable recycling program.”
Deerfield resident Paula Bloom said she’s “over the moon” recyclables will not be heading to the landfill as they had been when Deerfield’s decadeslong program went on hiatus.
The new contract is scheduled to be voted on at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall at 150 NE Second Ave.