Naperville is starting to roll out its new recycling carts to residents.
Mayor George Pradel ceremoniously kicked off the arrival of the carts this week, distributing them to residents of the West Highlands neighborhood with the help of four young contest winners.
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“These sturdy carts have wheels that allow for easy movement,” Pradel said. “They have lids that minimize trash from blowing on our streets, which will help keep Naperville clean. Perhaps most importantly these carts allow residents to recycle more items.”
The carts, which were requested by residents in a 2012 survey, come in three sizes — 32 gallons, 64 gallons and 96 gallons and replace the 22-gallon bins.
Officials say they believe with the new carts, the city will divert an extra 11 million pounds of waste per year from landfills.
“These big numbers can help Naperville do its part for the environment,” City Manager Doug Krieger said.
Naperville residents who choose to recycle will have to pay $36 for a new cart, which will be billed to them at $3 per month. Councilmen have asked finance staff to look for ways to lessen the number of months residents will have to pay.
The fees will cover about 80 percent of the $1.87 million contract the city entered into for the carts. The remaining money will come from city coffers.
Pradel delivered the first carts to Aspen Court with the help of four students who won a contest in which they were asked to use essays or artwork to show how recycling makes Naperville a better place. Winners were Aditi Prabhu, 6, Shawn Timothy, 8, Morgan Carioscia, 12, and Elizabeth Ha, 17.
“You could get a job with the city doing this,” Pradel joked to Timothy as they walked to the edge of a driveway with a blue cart nearly as tall as the youth.
Timothy’s winning drawing included recycling symbol and depictions of the types of items that can be placed in the carts as well as benefits of recycling.
“We can help save wildlife and create more jobs and we can provide residents with cleaner air and water,” the Cowlishaw Elementary third-grader said.
Prabhu wrote an essay about recycling and said she read about the topic to prepare.
“You can recycle things like plastic, paper, metal and glass,” the White Eagle Elementary first-grader said. “Those things don’t have to sit in the landfill giving off poison.”
The city will be distributing the new carts over the next six weeks, and residents can begin using them immediately. Residents who choose not to recycle do not need to purchase a cart.
Residents can keep their old bins and re-purpose them or they can recycle them at the Recycling Drop-Off Center at the Public Works Service Center, 180 Fort Hill Drive, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays or Saturdays. They also can leave the bins outside the Public Works Service Center entrance.
Additional information about the recycling cart program is available at http://www.naperville.il.us/curbsiderecycling.aspx.