The city of Syracuse this week started issuing citations for property owners who don’t follow the city's new recycling rules. This follows a massive change in the way garbage is picked up in the city.
First, it was new garbage cans. Then, new 96-gallon carts rolled out last fall for residents to use to get rid of recyclables. The issue the city has come up against is people stuffing trash in the cart meant for recycling. The city’s Chief Operating Officer, Corey Driscoll-Dunham, said the city isn’t out to get people who are making a good-faith effort to recycle.
"What we're really trying to address is people who are just putting trash, whether it's loose trash or trash in bags, in their recycling cart, which was not allowable when we had blue bins and is not permissible with recycling carts," Driscoll-Dunham said.
Starting this week, the DPW won’t pick up trash or recycling carts that are not set out properly. Residents have 24 hours to pull them back in or face a $350 fine. Overall, Dunham said the change in sanitation pick-up in Syracuse has been a success, with fewer injuries to DPW workers. She also notes anecdotally, that the new recycling carts are keeping neighborhoods cleaner.
"There's a neighborhood group in the Westcott area who said that they get together, I think, once a month, to just clean up the neighborhood and they've noticed a dramatic decrease since the recycling carts have rolled out," Dunham said. "So there's less juice cans and soup cans and all that kind of blowing around."
Information on recycling rules is available on the city’s website.
