Council ends costly wasteful curbside recycling service

City commits to comprehensive approach to sustainability

Simpsonville, S.C. — Citing concerns about increasing costs and decreasing effectiveness, Simpsonville City Council accepted on Tuesday a proposal to end the expensive and inefficient service of curbside recycling.

In less than two years, the cost to taxpayers for taking recyclables to Pratt Industries has increased from $0 to upwards of $5,000 per month. Whereas the City of Simpsonville once received upwards of $5,000 per year for recyclables, Pratt now charges taxpayers $65/ton to accept recyclable material, up 160% from $25/ton in December 2019.

With nothing stopping Pratt from continuing to increase their fees and no way to verify how much material is actually recycled, City Council accepted by a vote of 7-0 at the business meeting Tuesday night a proposal by the Public Works Department to discontinue curbside recycling to save taxpayer money and take a new direction toward real sustainability.

City Administrator Dianna Gracely said a recycling crisis exists in the U.S. due to changes in the market and improper recycling habits.

"We believe that it is the best proposal for the City at this point to discontinue curbside recycling  — not to discourage recycling but to encourage people to do it correctly," Gracely said. "We intend to have a very aggressive marketing campaign to let people know, yes we've discontinued curbside recycling, but we want to encourage you to recycle properly."

After China stopped accepting recyclables from the U.S. in 2017, the profitability of recycling has decreased for the waste industry while its costs have increased and been passed on to cities like Simpsonville. Despite the cost increase, the effectiveness of curbside recycling has not improved as 25 percent of recyclable material in single-stream recycling becomes contaminated and likely ends up in landfills.

Single-stream recycling is the practice of placing all recyclables in one bin, which usually leads to the kind of improper sorting and contamination that led China to ban recyclables from the U.S. Simpsonville Public Works Director Andy West said the decision by Council to end the antiquated and wasteful practice of curbside recycling allows the City to pursue a more comprehensive approach to waste reduction.

"The City believes that recycling should be as effective and economical as possible, and curbside recycling right now is neither effective nor economically responsible," West said. "Instead of having taxpayers fork over more and more money for recyclables to possibly end up in a landfill, the Public Works Department will provide to residents information and resources on free recycling drop-off locations, proper recycling habits and ways to reduce and reuse. We know the residents of Simpsonville care about sustainability, and therefore we are committed to making Simpsonville more sustainable than ever." 

Councilmember Jenn Hulehan of Ward 3 said discontinuing curbside recycling is both fiscally and environmentally responsible.

"We need to not only be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars but we also need to be good stewards of the environment," said Hulehan, who made the motion to accept the proposal to end curbside recycling. 

Councilmember Ken Cummings of Ward 5 said the number one complaint that he has received from residents is the assertion that the City should be able to absorb the costs of continuing curbside recycling services.  

"(The cost) is steadily increasing with no end in sight, so we're making the decision for the best interest of the residents in the future," Cummings said. 

The end of curbside recycling in September does not mean the end to recycling in the City of Simpsonville. Several recycling drop-off centers are located in and around in Simpsonville:

• Brookwood Church at 580 Brookwood Pointe Place, Simpsonville 29681
• City Park at 405 E. Curtis St., Simpsonville 29681
• Conestee Park at 840 Mauldin Road, Mauldin 29607
• Fountain Inn Elementary School at 608 Fairview St., Fountain Inn 29644

More information about recycling drop-off locations in Greenville County can be found on the County's website: Greenville County Drop-off Sites.

Councilman Lou Hutchings of Ward 6, who is an "avid recycler," said the decision to end curbside recycling is difficult but the right decision. Hutchings said the City has to educate the public about what options for reducing, reusing and recycling are available, including donating aluminum cans to the Simpsonville Fire Department to benefit the S.C. Burned Children's Fund.

"I'm not looking at this as we're taking away something," Hutchings said. "We're actually adding something good to the environment and to our City, and I think that's the way we should look at this. This is a positive, not a negative. We've seen the downside of the current system, and we've now found a way to change that."

For residents who want to keep the convenience of curbside recycling, Recyclops is a growing company that will retrieve recyclables from doorsteps bi-weekly for $12/month. Recyclops Vice President of Sales Dennis Wise spoke at the Council meeting.

"We set up our business as replicating the Uber model, both operationally and legally," Wise said, referring to the ride-sharing service that sub-contracts out to drivers. "Operationally, you don't have big trucks rolling up and down the street. ... Our folks utilize labor from the gig economy, and they come with a pickup truck, and they pick up in front of the house."

Ending curbside recycling by the City will save residents and taxpayers more than $100,000 annually and an additional $436,000 in start-up costs for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Simpsonville Community Relations Specialist Justin Campbell said the decision by Council to end curbside recycling was a difficult decision but the right decision because Council and the City do not want to waste taxpayer money.

"Asking residents to pay more than $100,000 a year for the outdated and ineffective practice of curbside recycling for the illusion of sustainability is no longer acceptable to City leadership," Campbell said. "The City of Simpsonville and Public Works Department want real effective solutions for waste reduction, and discontinuing curbside recycling is only the first step in a long-range effort to improve sustainability in Simpsonville. We just refuse to continue lining the pockets of the waste industry in the hope that recyclables are actually recycled and not dumped in landfills. Simpsonville residents deserve better."