CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Linda Cooper says her family's recycling bin overflows all the time.
The family bought a can crusher to free up space. They flatten cardboard boxes and carefully pack in as much as they can.
But there's just so much, says Cooper, who lives in Dilworth.
Soon, she and other residents will have another option.
Starting July 1, the city of Charlotte is expanding its recycling program to pick up a second rollout bin of paper, glass, plastics and metals. Starting May 2, residents can preorder the new $40 bins by calling 311. There would be no additional fees.
The change will go into effect one year after the city introduced the 96-gallon, rollout recycling containers and switched to every-other-week pickup. The so-called single-stream system also increased the types of materials that can be recycled.
About 27,861 tons of recycled materials were picked up from the city's single-family residences in February, compared to 21,293 tons a year ago, said Charita Curtis, public affairs manager for the city's Solid Waste Services.
Many people have asked about getting another bin since the recycling changes were first rolled out. The city has let people buy a second container for trash pickup for years.
Curtis said in expanding the recycling program again, the city wanted to respond to citizen requests, as well as look for more ways to reduce the waste sent to area landfills.
The change is welcome news to Carla Leinbach of south Charlotte.
She said her family of seven didn't recycle much before the city gave out the 96-gallon cans. Now they can easily fill up a container in less than a week.
On collection day, with permission from their neighbors, they'll go down their street and put their extra items in other bins. If there's still too much, they'll throw stuff in the trash.
Jim Cunningham said his family used to have two of the smaller red recycling bins under the old weekly collection schedule. Now the bigger one is always full, and even heavier than before.
Cunningham said he would consider ordering a second recycling bin. But he said a better idea might be for the city to go back to weekly pickup, while making garbage collection twice a month. The family has two garbage bins, but now never needs to use the second one.
Curtis said she doesn't know whether the city would ever return to a weekly schedule, but said there could be sanitation problems if garbage isn't collected as often.
The city contracts with Inland Service Corp. for recycling collections. Its current agreement requires the company to collect one recycling cart per residence.
Curtis said the city would need to amend the deal if more than 4,000 residents were to request a second bin.
More recycling options uptown, too
Charlotte also is expanding a pilot program to encourage more recycling in uptown.
The city recently installed 20 recycling containers near trash cans along Tryon and a portion of Trade streets. That brings the total number of center city bins to 35.
The new bins were placed in areas where city crews were needing to pick up trash more than once a day, said Les Epperson, program manager for the Power2Charlotte sustainability campaign.
The city also added two bins on Davidson Street in front of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, which Epperson said are the first on-street recycling bins for that facility.
The bins are being paid for through a federal grant the city received last spring.
