Soon, people in the Illinois Quad Cities won't have to separate paper from plastic at recycling drop-off sites.
This month, the board of the Rock Island County Waste Management Agency decided to switch to single-stream recycling.
Coordinator, Sarah Gardner, says currently, the drop-off bins are labeled for cardboard or paper only, and mixed recyclables such as plastics, tin, and aluminum.
One goal of changing to single-stream is to save money. It's become the "norm" for the recycling industry, and Gardner says the waste management agency wants to avoid paying new, mixing fees that companies have added to their bills. The industry's advanced machinery operates more efficiently when recyclables are mixed.
The Rock Island County Waste Management Agency has a contract with Republic Services to to collect and process recyclables from drop-off sites. Gardner says as soon as the company changes the signs on its bins, people can start putting all materials together. She hopes that will happen before Christmas.
Several Illinois cities offer single-stream, curbside recycling, such as Moline, East Moline, and Milan.
