Clearwater woman frustrated with recycling program | News

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- City of Clearwater officials say right now only 35 percent of households are recycling and they'd like to see that number increase to 60 percent. But Clearwater resident Sandra Proulx says she's frustrated because most of what she tries to recycle each week isn't accepted.

Proulx washes out everything with soap and water before tossing the empty containers into her recycling bin to be picked up curbside. She's done her homework too, researching through the Solid Waste and General Services Department what she can recycle, which she says isn't much.

Right now the City of Clearwater collects mixed paper, newspaper, aluminum cans, steel cans, and #1 and #2 plastic bottles.

Proulx says, "If they didn't like what was in the recycling bin, they would throw it down on the ground and put the recycling bin over it. But now they're actually taking everything and what they don't recycle they're throwing away."

She adds, "I would like to see everything being recycled. If its got a triangle on there and says it can be recycled, then there needs to be somewhere around here that can recycle it. If we're paying $2.27 per household, why can't they get a recycling company that does recycle more than what they are allowing?"

10 News contacted Earl Gloster, the director of Solid Waste and General Services for the City of Clearwater. The facility at 1701 N. Hercules Avenue is the place where Proulx's recycling ends up.

Gloster addressed her concerns. He says, "Well, the problem that we're experiencing right now is that we're only accepting recyclables that our vendors are accepting."

Gloster wants Proulx and others to know change is on the way.
"We're currently conducting a pilot program where we'll be able to accept a lot more of the recyclables. For instance, 1 through 7 in plastics. Right now, it's just plastics 1's and 2's -- that's bottles with a neck -- and that frustrates some of our customers and I know that and understand that."

Gloster says what's on the horizon, though, will take a lot of the guesswork out of recycling. It's called Single Stream Recycling. It will allow customers to put their recyclables in one 64-gallon cart provided by the city. Recyclables will be collected each week.

Gloster adds, "This is the bin we're using for our pilot program and this is what we expect to go citywide with and this shows everything you can recycle and what you shouldn't. We have an electronics recycling program. We have cooking oil recycling. We're trying to recycle any and everything we can."

There are five Clearwater neighborhoods taking part in the Single Stream Recycling pilot program: Plaza Park, Navajo Park, Tropic Hills, Island Estates, and Grovewood. But the plan is to expand the program within the next year to all Clearwater neighborhoods.

For more information on what you can recycle in Clearwater, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

If you live in a different city in Pinellas County, click here for a complete list of curbside and drop off recycling programs.