City's Recycling Program Gets A 'Green' Thumbs Up

The City of Manassas changed its recycling program about a year ago to the tune of great success.

That's according to Sue Lhotka, trash and recycling coordinator for the City of Manassas.

Lhotka told city council members at Monday night's meeting that switching to the Single-stream recycling program and its large bins with lids was a good move.

Every year, local jurisdictions are required to report recycling efforts to the state and expected to meet a 25% recycling rate.

The City has met that rate dating back to 2006 when the City reported a 27% recycling rate, but at the time, the curbside rate was just 20%.

In 2008, the City moved to Single-steam, which allows customers to place all their recyclable items into on large container,  and its recycling rate jumped to a total of 38%. It is believed the large recycling containers complete with lids and wheels provided to residents and businesses was a contributing factor to the increase. 

As a result, in 2009, the city reported a recycling rate of 43%, beating out the state's average of 38.6%.

Lhotka said she is happy to announce that the city reached a recycling rate of 45 percent in 2010, something she said should be credited to city residents and businesses.

Lhotka said she wanted to residents and businesses for "achieving this goal."

City Manager Larry Hughes also said there has been no complaints since changing the recycling program and said he believes the residents "really like the big cans."