Island County approves curbside recycling for Whidbey homes
Whidbey homes with curbside garbage pickup could get recycling at the curb in four to six months, for about $6.50 more a month.
Whidbey households in Langley and the island’s unincorporated areas that already get curbside garbage pickup were on track to add recycling at the curb, a change expected to reach homes in about four to six months and cost roughly $6.50 more a month. Island County commissioners approved the ordinance on a 2-1 vote Tuesday, making recycling part of the bundled solid-waste service instead of an optional add-on.
The new service is meant to replace some of the trips many families now make to self-haul drop-off sites. Under the plan, customers would have to take both garbage and recycling service, and Island Disposal said the monthly bill increase would be about $6.50, although the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission still had final say on rates. The company said a mandatory bundled program kept the price lower than a voluntary one, which county and company discussions put at roughly 30 percent to 40 percent more.
The curbside cart would be a 96-gallon commingle container collected every other week, and it would take mixed paper, cardboard, tin and aluminum containers, and #1 and #2 plastic bottles, jugs and jars. Glass would not be included because broken glass can contaminate commingled loads. County recycling parks still accept glass bottles and jars free of charge, along with the other common recyclables, and county transfer stations also take glass for drop-off.
Support for the change had been building for months. Island Disposal first brought the curbside recycling proposal to commissioners in October 2024, and the Island County Solid Waste Advisory Committee reviewed a customer survey on Oct. 20, 2025. More than half of the company’s 4,200 island customers responded, with 78 percent saying they were highly interested in roadside recycling and 94 percent expressing at least some interest. Commissioner Melanie Bacon said convenience mattered because many people are busy and do not have time to sort and haul recycling themselves.
The plan also reflected the county’s broader effort to hold down waste costs while diverting more material from the landfill stream. Commissioners approved a 15.3 percent solid-waste tipping-fee increase in January 2025 after a new disposal contract drove a 36 percent jump in shipping and landfilling costs. Island County says trash collected in the county goes to Republic Services’ Roosevelt Regional Landfill, while recyclables from county recycling parks are processed and marketed by DTG Recycle.
Not everyone was satisfied with the approach. Langley’s city council did not provide a letter of support, and some older residents raised concerns about another cart and the work of rolling bins down long driveways. Even so, the county’s limited curbside recycling network already serves Camano Island, Oak Harbor, Coupeville and NAS Whidbey PPV housing, and officials now expect more Whidbey homes to join it as the new program rolls out.
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