JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Confusion, or in some cases carelessness, about what to recycle is costing the city more than a half-million dollars.
That was Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry's message Thursday as he put on gloves and helped solid waste workers sort through recycling bins.
"Saw some shoes, we saw some dirty boxes, we saw garbage, we saw a couple bins that were loaded with garbage, household garbage," Curry said.
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You can't recycle shoes, but some people do it any way and the superintendent for the solid waste division, Michael Pinckney, said shoes aren't the only thing workers find in recycling bins.
"Batteries, gas cans, mattresses," said Pinckney. "We want clean recyclables. Try plastic bottles."
The city says most people just don't know what should be recycled and that confusion is costing them a lot of money.
"The message today is let's do it right," Curry said.
If you think this doesn't affect you, think again. The city said it spent $530,000 in your taxpayer money between April 2018 to March 2019 just on decontaminating recycling loads. That's more than a half-million dollars that could've been used on other things the city needs.
Here are some of the things you can safely recycle:
- Plastics with the numbers 1 through 3, 5 and 7
- Green, brown or clear glass bottles or jars
- Metal and aluminum cans
- Newspapers and magazines
Pinckney said recycling is no myth. If you recycle correctly, it'll go a long way toward helping the environment.
"It saves our planet. It's a healthy thing. We should all do it," Pinckney said.
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