A Few Words About Recycling

As Mayor of Bradenton, I really appreciate the comments and concern from our residents about our recycling program. I have spoken to many residents since our new program started, and I genuinely try to meet each resident where they are. All of us at the city especially appreciate those who are using the recycle containers that we have spread across our city. The program is yielding great results so far, and our gratitude is real.

We want you to know that we are constantly evaluating what we’re doing to see if we can do a better job. We do want our recycling to be better and better, day by day, and we are looking for answers, for ways to do that. This is not lip service. If there is a better way to do something, then we will consider it. For example, our recycling facility has informed us that it will now accept glass again. So we are changing our stickers and educational materials to indicate that we will be accepting glass again.

As we evaluate where we are with the new program, we are judging the numbers every day as they come in. So far, what the numbers are saying is that you are coming up big.

Consider this: in June of 2021, we had 20.62 tons of "recycling“ from curbside service. But, really, how much of that was actually recyclable? If 50-60% of our loads were contaminated, those loads were not actually recycling.

Now, a year later, in June of 2022, we had 14.88 tons of recycling at our recycling convenience centers. We're thrilled with this number because it is clean - these materials will actually get recycled.

Gene Brown

Mayor of Bradenton