Larger cart to replace OKC’s ‘Little Blue’
A longtime icon of Oklahoma City neighborhoods soon will be a thing of the past when the city retires its “Little Blue” recycling bin on June 1 to make way for its new large-cart recycling program starting in early July.
All curbside recycling will be suspended in June in Oklahoma City while crews transition to the new program. Recycling will resume in early July with every-other-week pickup.
Regular weekly trash pickup and monthly bulky waste pickup will not change.
Oklahoma City will notify customers of their new recycling pickup days in their June water bill and through a direct mail campaign. Starting June 1, customers can look up their new pickup dates at okc. gov/mytrashday.
During June, customers can take their recycling to the Waste Management Materials Recovery Facility at 5519 NW 4 or to other local facilities that accept recyclable items.
“We recognize this may be a bump in the road for people as we make this transition,” Utilities Solid Waste Superintendent Jim Linn said. “But it’s absolutely necessary to get the new fleet out on the streets and ensure the drivers are ready to roll with the new program.”
Customers can keep their “Little Blue” bin or put it inside their new large green cart to be recycled.
The city began delivering the large green carts to more than 193,000 Oklahoma City residential recycling customers Feb. 26. The new carts hold about five times more recyclable materials than “Little Blue” and have a lid to keep them in the cart when it’s windy.
Rural recycling centers to open
Rural customers in eastern Oklahoma City who are not eligible for curbside pickup are getting upgraded recycling services from two new drop-off centers opening in July.
The centers are at NE 63 and Westminster Road, and SE 74 and Douglas Boulevard. They will accept the same recyclable materials as the curbside program.
“We’ve been working towards this launch for several years,” Linn said. “The crews are excited, and based upon the positive response we’ve heard from the community, our customers are excited, too.”
For more details, go to okc. gov/recycle.