Ann Arbor City Council approves contracts for single-stream recycling

The second contract is an amendment of an existing contract with Recycle Ann Arbor, and provides for the single-stream curbside recycling program, in which residents will be able to put all their recycling into one cart.

The moves Monday night cap several months of work on switching the city over from a dual-stream recycling model to a single-stream one.

Before the council vote, several residents expressed reservations about the switch and about the incentive program being offered by RecycleBank.

“If the present recycling system is deficient in some way, I’m unaware of this,” said resident Kathy Boris, pointing out the already high participation rates among Ann Arbor residents in the program.

Resident Glenn Thompson pointed out that Berkley has recently decided to maintain its dual-stream system and suggested Ann Arbor should continue with its as well.

However, city staff members said they expect to see a rise in recycling use with the switch.

In a report, they projected that recycling rates would rise from about 357 pounds per year per household to 752 pounds per household per year with the incentive program in place.

The switchover is expected to begin in July.

David Jesse covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidjesse@annarbor.com.