After a long and hard-fought battle, residents in traditional St. Pete neighborhoods will finally have their recycling picked up from the alley, not the curb. Beginning Monday residents whose trash is collected in an alley will have their blue recycling containers collected from that same location.
To get ready, the city mailed out information packets to residents with specific instructions on where to place the blue bins on pickup day. Residents with alley pickup should place the rolling recycling bins at least three-feet from the large trash bins shared by neighbors.
The bins should not block driveways, carports or other places where people park in the alley and should be at least one-foot away from obstacles like fences and utility polls.
The flyer does not say whether or not residents are permitted to leave those bins in place in between pickups. A diagram also suggests the bins can be placed on either side of the alley.
The notice came with a letter from Mayor Rick Kriseman.
“More than six months have passed since curbside recycling began, and our Sanitation department is reporting higher than expected participation numbers,” Kriseman wrote. “But there is still more work to be done.”
He explained that “adding alley recycling collection should make recycling more convenient and encourage more participation.”
The city also reminds all those recycling in the city’s program to be mindful of what goes into the recycling bins. Kriseman wrote the city is still seeing a large amount of items deposited into the bins that cannot be recycled under the city’s program. Chief among those are plastic grocery bags and trash liners.
Grocery bags should be recycled at locations designated. Most grocery stores have bins where excess bags can be placed for recycling.
Other items that should not be placed into recycling bins include flimsy plastic packaging, plastic wrap from items like paper towels and water bottle cases, dry cleaning bags and Styrofoam. Other items typically recycled that should not be under certain circumstances are empty pizza boxes or paper products with grease or other food residue.
A complete list of acceptable recycling materials is on the city’s recycling website. There’s also a mobile app called St. Pete Collects with information including the do’s and do not’s of recycling and a comprehensive schedule of trash and recycling collection.
The alley recycling issue became an issue before the city even launched its program last summer. About 40 percent of St. Pete residents live in homes where trash is collected from an alley. Many of those homes have yards that are not conducive to taking bins to the curb for collection.
Kriseman announced late last year that the city would be transitioning to alley pickup January 25. Residents whose trash is collected from the curb will still take their recycling bins to the front of their properties at the curb.
All residents regardless of trash pickup status received the Mayor’s notice. The packet also included an updated recycling pickup calendar for 2016.
