The department takes bound newspaper and paperboard in paper bags. Corrugated cardboard needs to be cleaned and placed next to a resident’s recycling bin. The paper and cardboard can’t be mixed. Clear glass food and drink containers need to be washed and put in the bin. As do tin and aluminum cans.
“The paper and cardboard is one we adhere to most,” Brattrud replied. “We stick pretty close to the rules.”
Despite the recycling service the city offers, there are gaps. It’s only a weekly service and there’s a 50-pound weight limit.
Additionally, the Landfill of North Iowa does not pick up or process recycling, but people in the service area can drop off a wide variety of material at no charge to reduce waste piling up in the landfill, which is a problem. A representative for the Landfill of North Iowa has previously said that the landfill has room for about 85 more years of trash. An over-reliance on the landfill as an option could impact that.
Mason City Recycling Center has a problem or two of its own, but Hess said that they’re problems workers are addressing. Perhaps the largest one is residents dropping off items that cannot be processed.
“We are putting cameras up to watch the facility because we get a lot of garbage dropped off that we don’t accept,” Hess said before adding that violators would be prosecuted.
