Big blue carts will be distributed to 3,000 homes in Clinton starting Monday, officially ushering in the start of a new era of curbside recycling.
City of Clinton crews will be going home to home to deliver the 96-gallon blue rollout containers, and the process is likely to take about three days to get all the carts tagged and dropped off to single-family and duplex homes across the city. Each cart will remain property of the delivery address and is electronically identified with a microchip to its delivery address.
Public works director Jeff Vreugdenhil urged all residents who receive the carts to heed the contents of a neon envelope that will accompany the blue containers. Collection officially begins on Tuesday, March 12.
That envelope contains everything they need to know about the city’s new program, from what items can and cannot be recycled — the “do’s and don’ts” — how the single-stream collection works, a comprehensive calendar identifying the every-other-week regular collection schedule and holiday schedule, as well as general know-how and environmental, ecological and fiscal benefits that come with participation.
“On Monday, the people we purchased them from will come with 3,000 of these carts for us to put at residences,” said Public Works manager Tony Steffen, who noted the chartreuse packets will be placed between the top of the carts and the lid. “We need people to get this — it’s vital.”
A magnet is enclosed in the neon packet that incorporates the calendar, contact information and other useful facts for easy viewing.
At the end of last year, the City Council approved entering into a state grant program that would pay half of the $150,000 cost of purchasing 3,000 96-gallon containers. The other $75,000 will come from the city.
The city has nearly offset the expense of returning to curbside by discontinuing its contract with Onslow Container Service, which the city has paid $55,000 annually for rental and hauling off of the 30 yard roll-off containers at all four convenience sites. Those sites are going away, with the exception of the 200 W. John St. site, which the city will operate and service. At that site, the city is getting rid of the large roll-off container in favor of a dozen of the new blue cans — a “cart bank” — to collect single-stream recycling.
Vreugdenhil said he wants to see at least 300 tons collected from curbs citywide, which he believes can happen with a single-stream residential collection that offers ease of use.
Public works officials have been spreading the word throughout the community for weeks, urging participation in the free, single-stream collection process.
“My goals are to increase our collection tonnage and to be more convenient for the citizens of Clinton,” said Vreugdenhil. “It is my hope that those who currently do not recycle will take advantage of the convenience of single stream curbside recycling.”
While participation is encouraged, it is not mandatory. Those not wishing to participate, can call Clinton Public Works, at 910-299-4905. “If they receive carts and don’t want them, they can give us a call,” said Vreugdenhil.
He said the return to curbside recycling was much anticipated, and he hoped it would be well received. The goal is for the program to prove successful, and ultimately be expanded.
“We’re looking forward to expanding the program,” the Public Works director said, “but we’ll start with the single-family and duplexes and hopefully move on to commercial in the future.”
For more information about curbside recycling, call Clinton Public Works at 910-299-4905.
Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137 ext. 121 or via email at cberendt@civitasmedia.com.
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