MARYSVILLE — City crews will be fanning out across Marysville on Wednesday installing large blue recycling bins for everyone to use.
The bins are just the most visible portion of an initiative that also includes recycling education and outreach, providing recycling assistance at public events like the annual Strawberry Festival, and starting up a pilot recycling program for businesses.
The program comes as a result of an $84,000 grant the city received from the state Department of Ecology. The recycling program is made possible with a two-year $112,000 contract with Blue Marble Environmental, a Seattle consulting firm, which provides consulting, administrative work, grant writing and field work services.
“Where we don’t have enough staff to do a program, they actually take on some of those activities,” said Karen Latimer, Marysville’s public works operations manager.
The grant pays for 75 percent of that, with the city covering the remaining $28,000, Latimer said.
The blue metal 24-gallon recycling bins will be installed at 10 locations around the city. You’ll find them at parks, the library, the Third Street shopping corridor downtown, Cedarcrest Golf Course and other downtown locations.
Four of the bins will be sponsored by local businesses, with their staff emptying the bins. The city will maintain the other six, Latimer said.
The other elements of the recycling program include conducting education and outreach to apartments complexes, which often have high tenant turnover and linguistically and culturally diverse populations, Latimer said.
The program also includes providing volunteer staff and bins for public events, such as the annual Strawberry Festival, and launching a pilot program for businesses to help them save money through recycling.
The business program has been more successful than anticipated, Latimer said.
“We thought we’d get 20 people, and we have about 150 signed up,” she said.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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