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Almost Half Of ECUA Customers Recycle One Year Into Program
February 20, 2010
Curbside recycling has been available in North Escambia for just over a year, and almost half of all ECUA customers now recycle.
The Emerald Coast Utilities Authority introduced curbside recycling throughout Escambia County in January of 2009, coinciding with their takeover of the Allied Waste franchise in North Escambia.The latest numbers from ECUA show that about 34,500 households — about 47 percent of all ECUA customers in the county — are enrolled in the recycling program, and that number is growing by about 100 new sign-ups per week.
During the first year of the program, ECUA collected over 5,790 tons of recyclables — that’s over 11.5 million pounds — keeping those items out of the Perdido Landfill. The latest average is 116 tons per week, with a record-setting week of 179 tons of recyclables collected the week of December 22.
About 12.5% of recyclables received by ECUA are “contaminated” — containing incorrect items.
The following items are accepted:
- Newspaper & Inserts
- Magazines & Catalogs
- Junk Mail & Envelopes
- Cardboard
- Office and School Papers (colored paper)
- Boxboard (cereal, cracker boxes)
- Brown Paper Bags
- Aluminum Cans
- Tin and Steel Cans
- Plastic Milk Jugs
- Plastic Bottles with necks only
- Phone Books
The following items are not accepted:
- No Food-Tainted Items
- No Ice Cream Cartons
- No polystyrene foam products (coffee cups, coolers, packaging)
- No Pizza Boxes
- No Aluminum Foil
- No Plastic Cups & Silverware
- No Aerosol Cans
- No Other Plastics (hangers, food trays, etc.)
- No Juice Boxes / Bags
- No Garbage Yard Waste
- No Glass. Glass items are accepted at county drop-off centers.
Plastic bags are not recyclable, but ECUA encourages the use of plastic bags to hold other recyclables such as paper to prevent the items from blowing out of the the recycling truck.
Customers that wish to recycle can contact use at (850) 476-0480 or online at www.ecua.org.
Comments
6 Responses to “Almost Half Of ECUA Customers Recycle One Year Into Program”
Wild Bill,
My neighbor does drink few, but he also has a inside track to collect “beer” cans from a local tavern. The way I found out abou the collection system he has, is he is always crushing cans in his little shop. I aske where he gets so many and the reply was the tavern. I guess everyone is trying to increase the monthly income.
As for the recycle program, it is something worth wild, but I feel with the premise of pad my pocket first in Escambia county. I would like to see things in dollars!! There is nothing wrong with asking about the cost and profit of an operation that is supported by the people of Escambia county.
I know Larry, and I find him to be a good man and he loves the Sunday morning church breakfast, but I want him to stay on top of this for the people he represents.
Bama54 wrote:
I got a neighbor who saves his cans and when he sold them the first of the month made almost $175, he may not be the norm, but it is money in his pocket.
WOW!!!! Your neighbor must drink a WHOLE lot of beer and/or soda because I never got anywhere near that much from recyling my aluminum cans. I have a family of 5, we saved our aluminum cans for one month which equated to 7 large leaf bags of crushed cans. We received a whopping $7.69 for our troubles. Now the aluminum cans go in with the rest of the recyclable trash as to me it just wasn’t worth my time.
Larry Walker,
The recycling program is great! Anything we humans can do to reduce our footprint left on mother earth is good stuff. Now let’s find a safe and practical way to recyle our glass materials. Keep up the good work.
Larry,
You maybe right, but I don’t see the figures that say I am saving money. All I hear are individuals like you saying you’re saving me money. You say it is keeping the sanitation rate down. What is the cost of sanitation rate with and without the recycle program? Show me the numbers, tonnage tell me you have collected a lot of material that individuals have contributed to the plan, but put this into dollars. Show us the savings in number the common individuals understand. You as a representative of district 5, you should have these numbers published where we can find them without searching for them. As you make your round to the Sunday morning breakfast, maybe you could pass out information that could help those of us translate tonnage to dollars. This is simply showing me the money.
To Bama54:
ECUA does benefit financially from the recycling program, and that benefit is translated into a reduced sanitation rate. “The money” from the recycling program is represented by a $1.50 per month rate reduction.
Any resident who chooses to sell his recyclables, or some of them, is certainly free to do so. More power to anyone who can benefit from selling some recyclable items. For such residents, the ECUA program is available for responsible recycling of additional materials that cannot be so easily sold.
Every ECUA customer who chooses to participate in the ECUA recycling program is a participant also in helping ECUA to hold down its sanitation rate.
ECUA will soon be implementing significant expansions of its sanitation services, including the recyclables collection, with no increase in its sanitation rate. Stay tuned. NorthEscambia.com will have the details.
Roll Tide!
Larry Walker
District 5 Representative
ECUA
Check the roadways and creeks. We can’t save enough to keep the mess some of us keep throwing in our creeks and on our roadways. It’s time to put a stop to all the dumping. When we buy tires we pay to have the old one disposed of. It
really sadens me to see them lying on the side of the road or in a creek.
Old coolers donot need to be thrown into a creek and there is no room for PVC
used pipe either. This causes the people who pay for garbage and or recycling to lose what is gained.
But then look at the room that has been saved at the dump.
Just where is the money?? From recycle there should be some type of savings. This savings should be made known, and passed on the ECUA customers. If it does not benefit the customer base, then why recycle. ECUA cut service down to one time a week, raise the cost and advertise just how much recycle material that have collected. I got a neighbor who saves his cans and when he sold them the first of the month made almost $175, he may not be the norm, but it is money in his pocket.