Starting today, Miami-Dade is cracking down on what you toss into your recycling bin as efforts to combat recycling contamination rev up. According to a release from Miami-Dade County Department of Solid Waste Management, enforcers are set to check the contents of residents' blue recycling carts – a move initiated by an ordinance passed last year by the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners aimed at reducing the mishmash of non-recyclable items mucking up the process.
For the past year, the department has played nice, slapping yellow 'oops' tags on contaminated carts and leaving residents off the hook for fines; these tags signaled to offenders the presence of things like greasy pizza boxes or plastic bags that shouldn't be in a recycling stream, and the tagged carts wouldn't be emptied until the trash was sorted out, Miami-Dade County officials informed residents during the grace period but from this day forward, they won’t be as forgiving, violators now get just three chances to clean up their act or face a $152 fee to have their non-recyclables hauled away.
The single-stream recycling system in Miami-Dade is simple in concept yet complex in its dependability on the user's discretion, where errant items like food waste, styrofoam, and other non-recyclables have been known to taint entire loads making them unfit for recycling—this enforcement initiative is the county's bet on improving recycling efficacy and reducing the costly process of sorting the good from the garbage.
Those three strikes could come quicker than you think, once your cart is tagged for contraband, you won't see it emptied until the next scheduled pickup, after you've removed the offending materials – and if your bin's tagged more than three times, get ready to fork over the cash, that is unless you learn how to #RecycleRight, a guideline provided online at Miami-Dade County's recycling portal which details what flies and what doesn't in that blue cart at the curb.
For details on how to stay in the clear with your recycling habits, residents can visit Miami-Dade's official recycling guide and avoid the unnecessary fine while doing their part for a cleaner, greener community.
