Salt Lake residents can have free pickup of their recyclable trash on the same day their garbage is picked up.
The service will cost Salt Lake City $1.53 per household, but residents receive it free if they sign up for the service by May 1. Those who sign up later must pay a one-time fee of $6.The city will distribute bins for the recyclable waste in May and begin collection the first week in June.
Currently, about 4,000 people pay to have their trash recycled, said Ken Connaughton, spokesman for Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini. Those people will automatically be signed up for free service.
Everyone else must sign up. The city will have sign-up booths at Smith's Food & Drug Centers through the city each Saturday in April, Connaughton said. Postcards will also be distributed to most households. Residents can sign up by mailing in the postcards. They can also sign up by calling 972-CURB or 535-6970.
The city is offering the free service after negotiating a new contract with Browning-Ferris Industries. Under that contract, the city will pay the $1.53 for 21,000 households, Connaughton said. The city's cost drops after 21,000 households, he said.
Under the contract, the city will share in the profits from the resale of the recyclables. That arrangement means the more people recycle, the less the program costs the city, Connaughton said. "It also means there is less we have to take to the landfill, where we are paying $19 a ton."
Residents who sign up will receive two bins, a small one for paper fibers and a large one for cans and plastic bottles. The bins must be taken outside each week with the garbage container.
Residents can put cardboard, newspaper, magazines, paper bags and phone books in the small bin. The larger bin is for colored or clear soda-pop bottles, milk and water jugs, tin cans, aluminum cans and plastic-coated milk and juice containers.