COLUMBUS, Ohio – The expansion of the free, curbside recycling program in Columbus officially begins Tuesday with the ceremonial delivery of the first of thousands of big blue bins.
The expansion to include eligible condominium and apartment complexes, which is included in Mayor Michael Coleman’s 2014 operating budget approved last Monday by City Council will add approximately 16,000 customers to the residential recycling program, bringing the total number of customers to more than 200,000, according to a Council spokesman.
The first blue recycling cart will be delivered at Bethel Village at noon Tuesday.
Recyclable materials will be picked up from apartment and condo complexes, row houses and townhomes along city streets starting March 3, according to the Department of Public Service website
Condominium and apartment dwellers who use the city’s 90- or 300-gallon trash containers, as well as attached townhomes, are eligible for the expanded service. Properties must have enough room to store the 64-gallon recycling carts between biweekly recycling collections to be eligible.
The rollout of the expanded program will be accompanied by a schedule change department officials say will make collections of recycling and yard waste more efficient and make it easier for people to keep track of collection days. Beginning the week of March 3, the city will begin collecting yard waste and recycling on the same day rather than on alternating weeks and, while the week of collection may change, collection day will always remain the same.