Over the summer, the City of Chesapeake voted to end city-funded on-the-street recycling despite a petition with more than 7,000 signatures calling for it to remain.
Chesapeake, Virginia — Recycling in Chesapeake is back in the spotlight.
Over the summer, the City of Chesapeake voted to end city-funded on-the-street recycling despite a petition with more than 7,000 signatures calling for it to remain.
But Wednesday night, members of the community came together to make it clear that the conversation wasn’t over.
About 70 Chesapeake residents gathered to discuss new recycling options.
“We feel that the most efficient form of recycling is curbside recycling through city programs. That is not currently an option in front of us. is to actually get people to recycle and find out what their options are,” founder Lacy Shirey.
The group spoke with three different privately owned, subscription-based recycling companies and one recycling plant.
Happy Planet’s Kelsey Brave said:
Three organizations, Happy Planet, Recyclops and TFC Recycling, serve nearly the entire city. TFC previously held a recycling contract with the city, but they voted to expire it.
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Sign up for about $12-$15 per month and they will come pick up your recyclable trash.
“What we want to do is give people more ways to recycle, regardless of what options are most effective,” said Shirey.
The city also offers seven recycling drop-off sites and hosts recycling days throughout the year. However, as 13News Now previously reported, residents were complaining that the bins were already overflowing. At the time, the city said it did not initially anticipate so many people and would offer more bins and pickup times.
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Earlier this month, the city council released its first quarter report. The report noted that the recycling stream was becoming cleaner, but he only collected 10% of what was collected at collection points. However, this does not include those picked up by private companies.
“Compared to street pick-ups, we’re certainly not recycling as much as we used to at the moment,” Shirley said.
Panelists emphasized the importance of knowing what can and cannot be recycled, no matter which option you choose.
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Dennis Ackermann hopes more partnerships will be formed if curbside pickup doesn’t return.
“I want it to come back. I also want to see how the city works with the private sector so that there is a balance between what the city is doing and what the private sector is doing. I want you to find it.”
By eliminating street recycling, Ackermann began helping his Lions club collect recycling.
When the city council decided to end on-street recycling, they expected to save about $2 million. The city said these funds will be used to address shortages in waste management and public safety services.
Shirey said he, along with the rest of the crowd, hoped that new city council members after Election Day would mean that the conversation to revive recycling would start.
