Fayetteville

residents recycled 461 tons of material last year that would have otherwise

ended up in a landfill somewhere.

That's only

11.6 percent of the 3,507 tons of garbage collected here, however. The

city's curbside recycling program is the main way it tries to meet the

state goal of reducing the amount of garbage headed to landfills by 25

percent.

In 2001, the

city managed to recycle 490 tons of material through the curbside program,

near the record peak recorded in 1996 of 496 tons.

The program

has stopped collecting glass bottles for recycling because of the lack

of vendors, according to City Engineer Don Easterbrook.

City Manager

Joe Morton said there is no way to tell how the end of the glass recycling

will affect the city's recycling figures. He estimated that roughly half

of the homes in the city recycle, although the company makes a run once

each week to collect recyclables.

The recyclable

material such as aluminum cans, plastic and newsprint don't have to be

separated by residents because it is done at the recycling plant, Morton

added.

A number of

Fayetteville residents also recycle their yard waste at the county's landfill,

but since county residents also use that service there is no way to determine

how may city residents participate, Morton said.

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