Cracking Down on Dirty Recycling
As of March 1, Southbridge Massachusetts recycling bins with contents that are more than 15 percent non-recyclable materials won’t be emptied during their scheduled pickup every other week, interim recycling coordinator Anna Smith said. Letters notifying residents and property owners of the plan went out this week. Inspectors also put stickers on offending residents’ bins.
In the meantime, officials will continue to flip open recycling bins to inspect what’s inside. If non-recyclable materials are in view, a green “oops” sticker is affixed to the bin. The green stickers note that everyone makes mistakes, and the inspectors mark off the reason why the resident erred in their recycling, such as putting in plastic shopping bags or grease-stained pizza boxes.