Recology Humboldt: 25% of Recycling Contaminated, New Push for Sorting

Recology Humboldt’s general manager warned that roughly 25% of materials placed in recycling bins in the region “don’t belong there,” a contamination rate officials say is driving a renewed push for clearer sorting guidance and access to proper containers. Recology serves the City of Eureka and outlying areas of Humboldt County “for over 45 years!” and directs residents to its sorting guides and the WhatBin tool for instructions.

Recology’s local materials spell out what belongs in the recycling cart: “Paper, plastic bottles, cardboard, aluminum cans, and most plastics (no plastic bags!) go in your blue cart.” The City of Humboldt website reinforces preparation rules: “Everything that you would like to recycle must be clean to be acceptable,” and instructs residents to “Remove and discard all lids and rinse clean.” For plastics the city lists accepted recycling numbers as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7; plastics with other numbers are not listed as accepted.

Corrugated cardboard has its own handling: the City directs residents to “Break down and flatten boxes and place them under your bin for collection.” Recology also separates yard waste as a distinct stream, telling residents that “Materials like plants, weeds, leaves, and branches go in the green yard waste bin,” and that “Yard waste collection is an optional service and an additional fee.” Recology notes yard waste is collected weekly on a resident’s regular collection day, while the City additionally announces “The compost site is now OPEN for the season” and limits the compost pile to yard waste only.

Access and container logistics are mixed across official materials. The City of Humboldt states “Recycling is a free service, with no charge billed to the resident” and that “City of Humboldt green recycling bins are available at City Hall at no charge, limit of one per residence,” with the instruction that if you move you should leave the bin at the current residence. Recology’s materials, by contrast, refer to a “blue cart” for recycling and a “green yard waste bin,” a color-language discrepancy that the available materials do not resolve. Recology lists residential container sizes from 20 gallon can up to 90 gallon can and commercial containers from 1 yard to 7 yard, and asks customers to “Contact us for rates & to set up service.”

Officials and guidance also call out common contamination items that can force loads to landfill. Recology lists landfill items as “thin plastics (bags and saran wrap), cat litter, ceramics, broken glass, tetrapaks, and organic food scraps and trimmings.” The company explicitly warns against plastic bags in recycling: “no plastic bags!” The City warns that if a recycling center cannot accept an item, “it will be left in your bin for you to throw away.”

Operational details and key information remain incomplete in public materials: the available text does not provide the name of the Recology Humboldt general manager who made the 25% statement, nor the methodology or time frame behind the “roughly 25%” contamination estimate, nor dollar figures for the costs of mis-sorting. Residents seeking drop-off options are pointed to the Humboldt Waste Management Authority as a “DROP OFF” location, and the City posts a “Garbage Collection Map and Schedule,” but addresses, hours, and fee information are not included in the quoted materials. The City asks residents to report compost pile violations to the Law Enforcement Center at 332-2600 to keep the site open for the season.