Return of curbside pickup in Jacksonville: Republic Services asks people to watch what they recycle

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The City of Jacksonville says it’s bringing back curbside recycling in April after what will have been a six-month pause.

Republic Services is asking everyone to be mindful of what they recycle.

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It’s never looked better at Republic Services’ recycling facility. Since the city of Jacksonville halted curbside recycling in October, fewer locals have been recycling -- leaving many committed recyclers lugging their waste to the drop-off sites. That means most recyclables coming through the facility are good and clean.

Division Manager Jason Graves gave Action News Jax a tour of the facility in January. There, he showed how there were fewer plastic bags, dirty food containers, and non-recyclables.

Graves worries that once curbside resumes and everyone is recycling again, a lot of people won’t be doing it correctly.

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“It’s just plastic bags, plastic bags, plastic bags, plastic bags. This is the number one thing,” Graves said, pointing to the waste. “This right here wraps around our screens, does damage to our belts, will bring the sort line down where we have to go in there and cut it all off.”

To combat the issue, the city of Jacksonville is looking at launching an app that will educate people on properly recycling.

Jacksonville’s Chief Administrative Officer Brian Hughes said the idea is that locals could scan or type in an item to see if it’s recyclable or not.

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“The better job we do on the front-end of recycling, of ensuring recyclable materials going in, it costs the city less when we do that, so taxpayers benefit from a good, clean recycling stream, and there’s just a lot more efficiency in it,” Hughes told Action News Jax.

Click here to find out what Republic Services is doing to staff-up and meet the demand when curbside recycling resumes.

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