Pensacola stopped recycling seven months ago

The Pensacola City Council last week learned the city had stopped recycling its trash, even though residents have been faithfully sorting their trash on putting the recyclables on the curb every week.

In memorandum to the council, Olson explained Tarpon Paper, the city’s recycling vendor based in Loxley, Ala., had stopped taking recyclables because China last year made the decision to reduce its imports of contaminated recyclables.

Olson wrote, “While recycling is a service that the City is committed to, given the clouded outlook for Tarpon Paper, I determined it was not in the City’s best interest to seek a renewal of our contract with Tarpon Paper when it expired in March.”

The administrator didn’t mention when Tarpon Paper stopped taking recyclables. City Public Information Officer Vernon Stewart told the paper the last load delivered to the Loxley facility was seven months ago.

“The city’s last load to Tarpon was Sept. 30. 2017, and the last month of service from Tarpon (September 2017) amounted to $3,853.05 in services,” said Stewart. “There have been no further loads to Tarpon due to the market conditions.”