Battle Creek is feeling the pinch from China’s decision to stop recycling as much of what Americans throw away. Starting in May 6, the city will cut its weekly curbside pickup to every other week.
China used to buy lots of plastic and other recyclables from the United States. Much of it was waterlogged or covered in food. Now China is setting a much higher bar, and that’s left some sorters with nowhere to send recyclables, putting pressure on pickup programs like Battle Creek’s.
City Environmental Program Coordinator Lizzy Paul says Battle Creek will pay more for recycling hauling from Waste Management, even when it’s cut service to once every other week. But she says rates for residents are not rising.
“Some communities have actually had to cut their programs altogether and they’re just not doing recycling anymore, so this was really the best option. We’re keeping rates - they’ll stay steady and we’ll still be able to recycle so it works out really well,” she said.
Paul adds that Battle Creek will pick up all of the same recyclables for now, but she says it’s possible the city will have to drop some of them in the future.
“I don’t want to say ‘probably going to happen,’ but it is likely to happen in the future at some point that we’ll have to say, ‘We’re no longer accepting plastic number one’ or whatever it is. But for now we are keeping the acceptable items as they are,” she said.
Paul says that right now, about a quarter of what the city recycles is soggy or dirty enough that it’s essentially trash. Paul says once-a-week pickup could help to clean things up.
“I think it’s going to prove to be beneficial in the long run because I think it’s going to force people to slow down and actually think about what they’re putting in their recycling bin,” she said.
Paul says residents whose bins are full every week can pay for extra curbside service, or they can take recyclables to a drop-off center for free.
The city had planned to make the switch from weekly to every-other-week pickup sooner than May 6, but officials decided they needed more time to get the word out to residents, Paul said.
