New Orleans households will keep curbside recycling as part of their sanitation service under the new collection model approved by the City Council, an outcome Councilmember Lesli Harris has spent the better part of a year fighting for.
Recycling has been on unsteady ground in New Orleans for years. Harris pressed to make sure that didn鈥檛 happen here, and that weekly recycling stayed in the service every household receives rather than becoming an optional add-on or a line item to be dropped later.
鈥淩ecycling is not a frill, and I wasn鈥檛 willing to let it quietly disappear,鈥澛爏aid Councilmember Harris. 鈥淥nce a city lets curbside recycling go, it doesn鈥檛 come back, not in this budget, not in this decade. New Orleanians have told me they want a city that takes this seriously, and keeping weekly recycling in our basic service is how we honor that.鈥�
Harris has been the Council鈥檚 most consistent voice on recycling. New Orleans currently recycles a fraction of its waste stream, and city goals call for that share to grow substantially by 2030. Today, she once again requested the administration expand its education and communications around proper recycling.
With weekly collection and continued recycling secured, Harris said her next priority is glass. 鈥淕lass is one of the easiest things to recycle, but for a variety of reasons it can鈥檛 be collected curbside,鈥澛燞arris said.聽鈥淩ight now, whether you can recycle glass in this city depends on how far you鈥檙e willing to drive. That鈥檚 a program for people with a car and a free Saturday. I want a drop-off site at at least one NORD facility in every single council district, so a family in New Orleans East or Algiers has the same access as a family anywhere else in this city.鈥�
Harris will work with the Moreno administration, the Department of Sanitation, the Office of Resilience and Sustainability, and NORD to identify sites, evaluate hauling and processing partners, and bring forward a plan for at least one glass recycling location in each of the five council districts. Last term, Councilmember Harris was able to secure a glass recycling drop off at city hall in partnership with Glass Half Full.
鈥淩ecycling shouldn鈥檛 be a luxury or a scavenger hunt,鈥澛燞arris said.聽鈥淚t should be something you can do on your way home. That鈥檚 the standard I鈥檓 holding us to.鈥�