Delaware Turns to Mandatory Statewide Recycling

In an effort to boost Delaware’s lagging recycling rates, state recycling advisors have agreed to send a plan for mandatory curbside recycling to the Gov. Ann Minner, according to a report in the News Journal (Wilmington, Del.)

If approved, the law will ban recyclable materials like beverage cans, plastic bottles and newspapers from landfill-bound household trash, according to the report. The same legislation will require municipal waste haulers to make regular curbside pickups of mixed recyclables.

The News Journal reports that success of the mandatory program would push Delaware’s overall rate for residential recycling to 30 percent from where it currently stands around 4 percent.

The governor’s Recycling Public Advisory Council has been working on the proposal for a year, with the help of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority and the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.