JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The region's largest recycling center is urging residents who live in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia to think twice about the items they are placing in their recycle bin.
Republic Services managers say they continue to receive a high volume of trash mixed in with recyclable items at their Jacksonville-based center.
Since last year, the center has seen an uptick in non-recyclable items such as glass and thin plastics. In fact, the 350 tons of material they receive every weekday 91 tons can't be recycled.
The problem is made worse by the fact that recycled materials are now harder to sell.
In January, China drastically limited the amount of materials it purchases from the United States. So with the decrease in demand lower quality materials, the center has to produce higher grade materials to make recycled good attractive to domestic buyers.
"We've had to find other markets, we've found them domestically and at the same time quality expectations have changed and when you put that 26 percent of trash in there, it makes it hard to create a great product," Republic Services' division manager Jason Graves said.
Republic Services invite you to visit Recycling Simplified to learn more about what items you should and should not recycle.