From bottles to cardboard, Montgomery County, Maryland, is seeing a big spike in recyclables left out on the curb at homes in the county amid the pandemic.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing real big increases from residences,鈥� said Adam Ortiz, director of the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection.
According to Ortiz, between March 鈥� when many people began working from home 鈥� and October, the county has seen a 20% spike in what has been picked up, compared to the same period last year.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not exactly sure why that is, if it’s they鈥檙e getting takeout more and they鈥檙e taking those containers and putting them in the recycling bin or not,鈥� Ortiz said.
The collection of recyclables isn鈥檛 the only thing people are ditching at home more, Ortiz said trash pickup is up about 13% in neighborhoods.
The large amounts of trash and recyclable materials being picked up by homes, according to Ortiz, hasn鈥檛 resulted in additional work for crews that pick up the items, due to a decrease in what is being left out by commercial properties.
鈥淚t鈥檚 taking a lot less time to get to those commercial properties because there is a lot less to pick-up,鈥� Ortiz said.
He said with the pandemic, there has been some additional concern for the crews that pick up trash and recyclables because like police officers and health care workers, he says they are also working on the front line.
鈥淔olks have been staying safe, and we鈥檝e been able to keep up with what the public鈥檚 been putting out at the curb every week,鈥� Ortiz said.
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