Indianapolis offers free recycling trial - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Lindy Dobbins/WTHR

Indianapolis - The city's efforts to get more people to recycle is about to double in size. Thousands of people are going to get a recycling cart whether they want one or not.

A number of calculations have identified Indiana as the state with the highest per capita residential waste in the country. This year, Republic Waste Services of Indiana is taking strides to make Marion County a little greener by allowing citizens to give recycling a try for free.

In the upcoming weeks, Republic will be placing thousands of recycling carts at the end of driveways throughout Indianapolis' Northeast side. Those included in this project are allowed a three-month free trial before deciding whether these blue carts with their bright yellow lids will become a permanent fixture around their homes.

"You know if it's there and it's free and if you just try it, it's a way to better this neighborhood," said Stephanie Hooper, a Northeast side resident. "And anyways, there's constantly trash down the roads and things so, that would be nice."

Republic has addressed concerns of inconvenience by allowing users to place all of the materials in one bin, rather than requiring that they sort everything in advance. Steps such as this promote participation by citizens in the trial, who have not considered recycling in the past for a number of reasons.

"One (reason) is that it is incredibly cheap to send material to a landfill or an incinerator," said Carey Hamilton, Executive Director of the Indiana Recycling Coalition. "When you think about recycling it's a truck and employees collecting, sorting, and transporting material and there are costs associated with that."

In Indianapolis the cost is $6 each month. With this new trial, however, the fees will be lumped into one $48 fee which will cover the entire year. One of Republic's biggest obstacles will be assuring people that recycling is worth the cost.

"It would be great for three months for free to be able to do it and we'll see how much I have in that three months before it fills up to see if it's worth the six dollars a month," said Northeast side resident, Eric Grumbacher. "Just for a few cans here and there… it just seems as if it's a little steep."

This hesitance is where the free trial comes into play. Republic hopes that by being able to recycle for free, citizens will take the time to recognize the convenience as well as the environmental benefits of recycling.

"The benefit of recycling, of course, is that handling material more sustainably means that we are making our economy more sustainable and our environment more sustainable," Hamilton said, "so if we as a community say that that's important to us - that we're no longer going to look at our materials as just a waste management system but we're going to have a sustainable management system - then there are different ways to figure out how to pay for that."

Residents who are already participating in Republic's recycling program will not be eligible for the free trial. Republic will begin delivering the bins over the next month, and residents will receive notification from the company by mail. The bins will be serviced biweekly (twice a month), which is currently how often existing customers' recycling is collected.