The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities will be changing to single commodity recycling, but will not be altering its recycling credit program.

David Leathers, BPU general manager, said the recycling credit program that decreases a solid waste customers payment during a billing period will not change this year. The current program decreases a city resident’s sold waste bill from $21 to $10.50 and a non-city resident from $27.50 to $17 if they recycle at least once during the billing period.

“The current program will remain unchanged,” Leathers said. “I think that we are working on the execution of going to single commodity recycling as of Sept. 1. That is what we are focused on right now. The next three to four months, we will work on what will be in placed as far as 2020.”

Leathers said 50 to 60% of BPU customers recycle once a week, which depends on what is being collected. He said numbers drop during the week of recycling glass while numbers increase during paper and cardboard. He added that 80% of BPU’s customers recycle at least once during a billing period to receive the credit.

As for solid waste collect, Leathers said there is no anticipated penalty for people who don’t use a can with a lid in 2020.

“We want to educate and communicate instead of penalize,” he said.

As for customers who leave their garbage can and lid on the terrance for an extend period of time or for people who place their trash out days before pick up, he said they could be penalized.

“It’s more for the habitual people who are not in compliance with the city code,” he said. “If someone puts a bunch of garbage out three days before, they might get a penalty or a fee, or if they are constantly leaving stuff on the terrace, they might get a notification and ultimately a fee. All of that is rare, however.”

On Monday during a BPU board meeting, Leathers announced that the BPU will implement single commodity recycling starting Sept. 1.

The change will officially be voted on by the board at its next meeting Monday, Aug. 26. He said BPU staff will work on relaying the message to its customers during the next six weeks, including mailing a new recycling calendar for the last four months of the year.

The change will mean that customers will no longer be able to combine paper and cardboard and plastic and metal into one recycling bin. The new calendar will now have five different colors to determine the item that will be recycled during the week instead of just three colors.

In a news release, BPU officials noted that regional recycling vendors face continuing challenges of where they can sell or disperse recyclables. As China has closed its doors to American recyclables — when it once took delivery of a majority of the U.S. recycling market — national and regional vendors are working to find outlets for its products.

These international recycling market changes mean that American vendors have had to restrict what recyclables they accept and in what combination they can economically process. For instance, BPU paper recyclables will no longer be received by our recycling vendors when mixed with cardboard and box board. While BPU garbage disposal costs currently are $28.50 a ton at the landfill, for example, fees for recycling of paper with cardboard/box board together fluctuate and recently have cost more than $100 a ton.