WEST BOUNTIFUL — The containers will be blue, but they'll be all about being green.
West Bountiful's new residential recycling program will start July 1, with blue recycling roll-out carts to be delivered to households the week of June 21-25.
"It's been considered for quite a while," said Craig Howe, city administrator and finance director. "We've looked at it for more than a couple of years. … We're happy to be able to provide an additional service for a very minimal extra cost."
The city has teamed with Waste Management for the curbside program. The company will pick up recyclables every other week on the same day that trash is collected. A long list of recyclable materials — paper, metals, cardboard, plastics but no glass — can be placed in the cart; the company will do the separation.
The city's roughly 1,600 households will be charged $5 per container per month unless they opt out by June 18. Opting out requires a signed slip available in the city's newsletter or on the city's website, westbountiful.utah.gov.
The city worked the recycling activities into its new five-year contract with Waste Management.
"We certainly wanted it to be able to sustain itself … and we've made a commitment that if we can have more than 80 percent participation, then we can reduce that to $4.50," Howe said. "We figured that at $5, we could cover the cost and we wouldn't be going into the hole with it."
Howe figures the program will be popular. At the most recent general election, a straw poll showed that 89 percent of registered voters favored recycling. And, he added, neighboring cities have seen participation levels of 80 percent to 90 percent.
"Originally, there was a concern about whether this was something truly desired as a service by residents," Howe said. "Recycling has taken hold the last two years, and we've just watched the demand grow. As we've seen that, we've tried to respond to it."
West Bountiful currently is not providing green-waste recycling, but residents can go to the Bountiful landfill during its green-waste recycling day.
Howe hopes the recycling program can help the city "hold the line" on regular trash-removal costs; it faces a tipping fee for every can tossed into the trucks.
"And in the future, our contract allows a profit-sharing from the recycled materials," he said. "If Waste Management is able to, in fact, separate those out and sell them off to other folks, they're willing to share with us some of those proceeds a couple of years down the line."
e-mail: bwallace@desnews.com