St. Joseph County has approved a contract for curbside recycling for the next ten years.
The new contract is with Borden, same as the last one. But the County put recycling out for bid, and Borden was the only one that submitted.
After negotiations the contract was signed. It includes a higher cost, and a five year opt out clause for any of the entities included in the contract.
That means if unincorporated St. Joseph County, or the cities of North Liberty, New Carlisle or South Bend decide they don’t want recycling anymore they can drop out at five years without raising the price for whoever’s left.
Randy Przybysz is the director of the Solid Waste Management district in St. Joseph County. He said offering curbside recycling is something the county decided a while ago.
“This community felt years ago that it was important to offer those services so that’s what we’ve been doing ever since.”
The exact price of curbside recycling is still being decided as the county is running an audit on exactly how many households are in the service area. Przybysz said it will be more than the current $28 annual charge but likely less than $35 a year. The cost will be decided early in 2019 before spring tax bills go out.