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Auburn may restart curbside recycling program

In this photo taken Monday, Dec. 22, 2014, garbage collector Anousone Sadettanh runs to his truck with a small residential garbage bin as larger yard waste and recycling bins stand behind as he works his pickup route in Seattle. Fail to recycle in Seattle and you can get a ticket from the garbage collector. The city says it will start enforcing new recycling requirements on Jan. 1 with warning tags. Careless residents will start seeing fines July 1 on their bills — $1 per violation, $50 for a commercial or apartment building.
Elaine Thompson
/
AP
In this photo taken Monday, Dec. 22, 2014, garbage collector Anousone Sadettanh runs to his truck with a small residential garbage bin as larger yard waste and recycling bins stand behind as he works his pickup route in Seattle. Fail to recycle in Seattle and you can get a ticket from the garbage collector. The city says it will start enforcing new recycling requirements on Jan. 1 with warning tags. Careless residents will start seeing fines July 1 on their bills — $1 per violation, $50 for a commercial or apartment building.

The city of Auburn could revive its curbside recycling program next month.

The city council shelved the program this past spring, but Mayor Jason Levesque says it's considering a new system that will only take select items.

Levesque says one of the big factors in the program's success will be whether Auburn can find a buyer for its recyclables. And he says that could be a challenge.

"There is no commodity market right now for glass," he said. "Paper can be contaminated. Plastics, it's hit or miss, you know, depending on what type of plastic. So we really have to analyze where our recycling is going."

The city council is expected to vote on a pilot project next Monday. Levesque says if the numbers work, a new recycling program could be launched in the spring.

Reporter Caitlin Andrews came to Maine Public in 2023 after nearly eight years in print journalism. She hails from New Hampshire originally.