Recent changes in the marketplace for recyclables has caused confusion among residents as to what can and cannot be recycled through Waste Management’s curbside recycling program. To help residents better understand the changes, the City of Melbourne’s Environmental Community Outreach (ECO) Division developed the Curb Contamination Program – a personalized outreach effort aimed at helping residents better understand the changes and reduce the amount of problematic items that end up at the recycling facility. The program has been running for a few years. It had slowed down due to Covid-19 and other staffing reasons but the ECO staff has now begun to ramp up efforts again. Starting Wednesday, October 12, Megan Selva, the City’s Environmental Programs Coordinator, will be conducting recycling cart surveys. She will check recycling carts in different neighborhoods. If she finds items that shouldn’t be there, she will hang an informational door hanger at the home that includes a checklist showing what can and cannot be placed in the carts. 

“The main thing residents need to focus on is getting back to the basics of recycling aluminum and steel cans, plastic bottles and jugs, glass bottles and jars, and cardboard and paper,” said ECO Division Manager Jennifer Wilster. “It’s better to throw it out if it’s not one of these things than to contaminate the whole load and risk a shut-down of the recycling facility’s operation.” In the past, Selva has found some unusual items in the carts that are not recyclable, including a hose, a small electric iron, a toilet brush, an electrical extension cord, and a fury pillow.  Plastic bags are by far the most common item found that shouldn’t be in the carts. Plastic bags get tangled up in the machinery at the recycling facility where Melbourne’s recycling goes for processing. In addition, Waste Management can no longer accept clam shell containers, the type that hold strawberries and salad mixes, and has never accepted polystyrene, such as egg cartons or to-go containers. "I think our community has good intentions but a lot of the contamination is from ‘wishcycling’,” Selva said. “That’s when people want or ‘wish’ for it to be recycled or see the recycling symbol, but unfortunately, it’s not accepted in our curbside recycling program. Plastic bags and food contamination, like pizza boxes or containers with food residue, continue to be a huge problem.”

In addition to this program, the ECO Division distributes recycling information to new water customers, runs social media campaigns, meets with work groups in the City to make sure they understand what is acceptable, and provides educational programs at schools and special events. “We believe our residents are working hard to create a sustainable environment, and we are here to help,” Wilster said.

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