COMMONLY ASKED CURBSIDE RECYCLING QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

When will my recycling be picked up?

Recycling will be collected every other week on your regular collection day. Please place containers out by 7:00 am. There are two routes A and B. To find out which route your address falls under please CLICK HERE.

Why should I sign up for the program if Belmont already offers free curbside pick-up?

Belmont is no longer providing recycling services to residential customers. Belmont is focusing their resources on commercial customers. For Belmont, a commercial recycling program (businesses, agencies, etc.) means fewer recycling stops, larger volumes of material at each stop, and less gas expended.

Who is going to do all the work of sorting the materials?

Recyclable materials collected by the City curbside program (and the drop-off program) will be transferred to Western Recycling who will then bale the material and send it to a (MRF) Material Recovery Facility in Portland.

What is an MRF and where is the nearest one?

An MRF is a Material Recovery Facility. These specialized, state-of-the-art recycling facilities process and sort recyclable materials. The facility contracting with Western Recycling is located in Portland, Oregon.

Why aren't we sorting, removing caps and labels, and washing containers?

It is no longer needed when one co-mingles the recyclable waste. Plus, it makes the effort to recycle more convenient which will then hopefully increase participation and the recycling rate.

Why is glass not recycled?

There is currently no market to recycle glass in this area. We hope that in the future we may be able to find a buyer for our glass. Also, glass intermixed with other recyclables causes large problems with separation at the MRF’s.

Besides glass what items are prohibited and cannot be recycled? Items that cannot be recycled CLICK HERE.

Is the City going to generate a profit from this?

Not initially because our program was voluntarily. However now that curbside recycling is a part of the City's standard garbage service our chances of operating in the black have greatly increased – since success requires large volumes of recycled commodities.

What other cities in Idaho offer curbside recycling?

Boise, Nampa, Middleton, Moscow, Meridian, Mountain Home, Garden City, Lewiston, Sandpoint, Kootenai, Hailey, and Ketchum all have well-established and successful curbside recycling programs.

With all the land around us, why do we need to recycle? We could keep building landfills forever.

Idaho’s abundance of land can be seen as both a blessing and a curse…when it comes to being stewards of the environment. For example, the State of Idaho is one of few states that has no landfill diversion goals. Yet, the Department of Environmental Quality states, “As existing landfills fill up, it will be necessary to build new landfills, which are very expensive to construct. Higher disposal fees will be needed to cover the cost of building new landfills, which may tip the economic incentive to recycling and pollution prevention.” Not only are we filling our landfills faster than necessary, but we’re spending money to bury valuable materials!

Why should I recycle?

If I have more questions about recycling who should I contact?

If you have additional questions about the City's recycling program please contact the City Recycling Coordinator Debbie Brady at 208-234-6192.