High Contamination Rates Halt Residential Recycling In New Orleans

By Heather van Blokland
Published: Tuesday, May 21, 2019 - 2:37pm
Updated: Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - 9:13am

As of last Friday, the second largest garbage and recycling company in North America will no longer accept residential recycling from facilities in New Orleans.

Trash companies Metro Disposal and Waste Connections contract with the city of New Orleans, where Phoenix-based Republic Services operates a recycling facility. Republic Services said it will no longer process residential recycling collected from curbside pickup because it is not clean enough to process. Contamination rates are as high as 30 percent in some areas.

New Orleans joins a growing list of municipalities across the country that have reduced or suspended certain recycling programs.

Companies like Republic Services continue to try to meet the 0.5 percent contamination standard set by China, the primary buyer of most U.S. recycled products.

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