CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Charleston City Council has agreed to allow city officials to enter a memorandum of understanding regarding recycling services.
The agreement involves paying the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority a rate of $175 per ton of recyclables, in which recycling crews will collect newspaper, office paper, magazines, cardboard, aluminum, tin cans, certain metals and certain plastics.
The deal will go into effect in July, and be in effect for at most one year.
“We’re not committed for the full year,” City Manager Jonathan Storage said. “While the MOU is for a full fiscal year, we can stop at any time. It’s basically pay as you go”
City officials are continuing to research the feasibility of a local recycling program. Storage noted discussions are ongoing about how the city can have an initiative.
“It continues to commit the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority to continue to take all of the same types of recyclables that it has been accepting,” he added. “That will be in place for at least the next year as well.”
The program was paused last year for five months because of the coronavirus pandemic, with services resuming last September.
City council members received a study in March about the participation rate in Charleston’s recycling program; the report noted the city rate is lower than the national average.