Front Page  »  

Atascadero approves fines for tossing garbage in recycle bins

March 30, 2019

The City of Atascadero has enacted a $50 fine for residents who are caught throwing contaminants in their blue recycle bins. [Cal Coast Times]

Beginning on May 1, trash collectors from Atascadero Waste Alternatives will track trash that clearly does not belong in the recycle bins such as old clothes, pillows, and food. The city is not planning to fine residents who accidentally throw an item into the recycle bin, such as a wax-coated food container, which they mistook for a recyclable.

For the past few years, North SLO County Recycling has noted a 25 percent contamination rate in recyclables picked up in Atascadero.

Recyclable items include paper, plastic, glass and metal products. Residents should rinse out their recyclable food and drink containers before putting those items in the recycle bins.

Items such as garden hoses, plastic ropes, and plastic hangers tangle in the machinery and are not recyclable.

The number one contaminant is plastic bags, which are not recyclable. Residents should dump their loose recyclables into the bin. That is aside from shredded paper, which should be placed in clear plastic bags.

Because of an upheaval in the market caused by China’s rejection of recycling imports from the United States, costs have skyrocketed at facilities that process recyclables.

In February, the Atascadero City Council approved an increase of about $4 per resident for North SLO County Recycling to process recyclables.


Loading...
Related:


15 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

So who gets the fine when you put your bin out at night as you are asked too and before it is picked up the next day someone puts a “illegal” item in it?


9

Recycling needs a good injection of capitalism…take the government completely out of it….bring back profit in recycling and it will get done….


9

Only problem is that recycling is not profitable.


3

It was about 12 years ago…plastic and aluminum kept many a homeless person fed…like I said take the government out of it and watch the profits return…..


0

I wonder how the are going to monitor this. The truck drives up to the container which has closed lid, the big claws come out and picks the container up and up it goes to the top of the truck where it goes sideways and the lid comes open as the container is emptied. Sounds like a good ide but so impractical. I can see a whole new department called the recycling police.


8

So I have a rental property. I pay the trash bill. My tenants put trash into the blue bin and I get fined. Guess what… The blue bin goes away.


14

Its already been determined by multiple studies that recycling actually does more damage to environment .Ever since scammers scammed the CA redemption fee account into bankruptcy by bringing out of state cans for example by the millions and depleted the redemption account in the red …..In placer county population 390k or so… 1 can for everything ….they have sorting facilities where inmates the homeless aka hippies and people doing community service plus paid low skills level people sort the garbage SLO county only 215k population ….Garbage company taking SLO and A-Town being taken for a rough ride


18

Maybe ask the city father(s), ie. Tom O’Malley, why there is no recycling center to take oil, cans, and bottles in Atascadero. Why they gave the contract to a company that couldn’t meet the recycling demands of the city. That being said, to be fair, I do see recycle cans along side the road with all sorts of stuff, which is clearly not recyclable, sticking out from them . Then there’s the whole other, yet related, issue of people piling up their old household crap such as broken furniture along side the road with a “free” sign on it. Can you say “Ghetto”?


18

So the garbage collectors will now be know as garbage inspectors, probably need to double their salaries due to the increased responsibility. They will also need additional education so they can properly diagnose the items left in the containers. Personally i will just continue to use my neighbors trash since he works for the city.


12

They may need to to armed as well. Just like all the other badge wearers that keep us in line…


1

Take a ride to Pismo on trash day and you’ll see south county disposal use the same truck to empty the recycle cans as well as the normal trash cans.Recon somebody sifts thru 100% of everything to weed out the recyclables? Id venture to say NOT.


8

Logical response: Just put everything in the garbage. Leave recycle bins empty. And ask your favorite garbage dude for an honest answer to this question: Is it true, as many waste disposal “experts” maintain, that recycling is a scam and a sham? In the end, most recycling goes in the main dump. Fact.


32
1 2