GREENSBORO, N.C. — The City of Greensboro wants its residents to "reset their recycling mindset."
That's what Tori Carle, Waste Reduction Supervisor for the City of Greensboro, says in the most recent episode of Trash Talk Tuesday.
The city is changing its residential recycling program July 1.
Most notably, you won't be able to recycle glass jars or bottles based on the new guidelines.
Back in April, Carle told WFMY China is to blame. The country takes most American recycling items, but has recently decided to stop accepting several things, thus decreasing their value, meaning recycling processors aren't getting paid what they once were.
Another reason, Carle said, is because glass is very heavy and removing glass makes the recycling loads lighter and will cost the city less money.
The other popular recyclable items that you can't throw in the bin anymore are cartons, think milk, soup and juice boxes.
Let's recap that really quick: Glass and carton now belong in your regular trash.
Here's where the confusion comes in: There's an ABC regulation where all glass bottles from bars and other establishments with ABC permits have to be recycled by the city.
So why not just take all your bottles to private establishments that can recycle glass bottles and jars, right? Well, no.
A) The establishments are private, so it's entirely up to them whether or not they'll take your recycling. B) The recycled bottles coming from these establishments are strictly that, glass. Meaning it's a single-stream recyclable, so its less likely to be contaminated, thus increasing its value in the market.
The city says it's working on starting drop-off locations for glass recycling, like they have do for the bottles at the bars.
But those won't open until after July 1, so they're still TBD.
Also, just because you continue to put your glass jars and bottles in the recycling bin doesn't mean they will be. In fact, your recycling will be considered contaminated and you could be fined for it.
On the city's site, it says some communities have stopped recycling all together because of the cost, and in order to keep Greensboro recycling, they've had to make this move.