INDIANAPOLIS — The city of Indianapolis is moving closer to its long-standing goal of offering curbside recycling services to its residents, with plans to implement the program by 2028.
Currently, residents face challenges when it comes to recycling; they either need to pay for services or drop off their items at designated bins.
"The city is one of the largest cities in the country that does not have comprehensive curbside recycling for its residents, so it's a good thing, but it's long overdue,” Allyson Mitchell, a recycling advocate, said.
For years, Mitchell has been advocating for a curbside recycling program and hopes that it will include educational components for residents.
"How to recycle, what to recycle, and more importantly, what not to put in your recycling bin is also a challenge. The information out there is kind of thin in terms of details,” Mitchell added.
To assist with recycling education, Recycle Force plans to open a drive-up recycling drop-off site staffed by their employees. They also hope opening the site will lead to less illegal dumping, a problem in the city.
"Most residents don't really know what to do with the waste that they have, and so for us, we want to have people here ready and available to educate each individual on what waste goes where,” said Glenn Johnson, vice president of Keys 2 Work.
In the interim, the Indianapolis Department of Public Works (DPW) says that residents who currently recycle will see their fees decrease.
"If we would have extended the other contracts another 10 years, and they continued to go at that specific baseline level, we are coming in underneath that for the trash service end of the solid waste, and that is going to help offset the cost of the universal recycling,” said Kyle Bloyd with the DPW.
Additionally, a new materials recycling facility is in the works, which Recycle Force hopes they can help staff with the offenders they train for the exact work this new facility will have available.
"Not only are we going to educate the community, we are going to train workers that can work in their municipal recycling facilities or MURFs, and they are going to need labor and we want them to hire people so they can get a second chance,” said Gregg Keesling, president of Recycle Force.
The new recycling facility has not yet broken ground as it is still undergoing the permitting process. Households currently receiving trash service will receive a cart for their recyclables once curbside recycling begins.
