If you live in unincorporated Polk County—that’s the area outside the city limits where the majority of county residents live—Polk County Waste & Recycling wants to know about your recycling preferences.
The survey will come in post cards that are being mailed to county garbage customers.
Here’s the background.
Beginning Oct. 1 Polk County will have new garbage companies, new garbage rates (probably an increase, but that has yet to be determined) and recycling carts instead of recycling bins.
However, the recycling carts—you can pick the size you want—will go only to people who ask for them. This is a financial decision as well as a customer service decision.
That is, it will eliminate unnecessary spending on unneeded recycling carts and will not generate complaints about unwanted carts. Additionally, that should reduce if not eliminate the problem that has occurred in other counties. That problem is that some residents were filling their recycling carts with household garbage instead of recyclables.
There will also have to be some education to make sure the new system goes smoothly.
One major change is the elimination of glass recycling.
Let me repeat, Trump-like for emphasis. PUT YOUR GLASS JARS AND BOTTLES IN THE GARBAGE CART, NOT THE RECYCLING CART AFTER OCT. 1.
The reason glass is being banned is because it has no market value and the broken glass contaminates other materials, particularly paper products, lowering their market value.
Also, here’s an early reminder of other materials that don’t go in the recycling carts or bins. The main ones are plastic bags and polystyrene (often incorrectly referred to as Styrofoam, which is another material).