Recycling percentage slips to 13.2 over holidays

LACONIA — During the fifth round of the recycling challenge, over the holidays, the amount of solid waste collected at the curbside increased nearly 20-percent while the tonnage of recyclables dipped, shrinking recycling as a share of solid waste from 15.7-percent to 13.2-percent.

The Recycling Challenge pits each of the five daily trash collection routes against one another in a contest to determine which can increase its percentage of recycled waste the most.

In the latest round, recycled tonnage dropped from 27.76 tons to 27.58 tons while the volume of solid waste rose from 176.89 tons to 209.04 tons. Tonnage increased on the Monday and Thursday routes, but only the Monday route, where recycling grew from 11-percent to 15-percent of all solid waste, posted a higher percentage of recyclables. Since the challenge began, the Tuesday route has consistently recycled the largest portion of its solid waste and after reaching 25-percent in the previous round, again topped the field by recycling 20-percent.

Every ton taken out of the waste stream and recycled reduces the cost of collecting, transporting and disposing of solid waste, which is funded by property taxes, by more than $150 per ton. In announcing the challenge in October, City Manager Scott Myers said that the goal was to recycle 25-percent of all solid waste by March 1.