NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio -- A Solon recycling firm will collect "soft" discarded materials -- including clothing, jewelry, blankets, tools and silverware -- that residents place on curbsides, starting in June.
Great Lakes Recycling Inc. will pay the city 1 cent for each pound of soft recyclables, under a four-year contract that City Council approved last month. Residents will not pay for the service. The contract is renewable after four years.
Great Lakes will sell top-quality soft recyclables, collected from North Royalton residents, to local thrift stores. The firm will export mid-quality items to international markets and recycle raw materials from items deemed unusable.
Mayor Robert Stefanik said the city estimates that it will bring in $5,000 a year from the agreement, plus money it saves in lower landfill fees, for a total of about $15,000.
More than 20 Cuyahoga County communities already have soft-recyclable agreements with Great Lakes. The communities include Bay Village, Berea, Brooklyn, Chagrin Falls, Mayfield, North Olmsted, Parma Heights, Rocky River, Solon and Strongsville.
The company was expected to mail educational postcards about the new service to residents this week. Residents will also receive two plastic bags in which they can store soft recyclables, which also include purses, hats, toys, drapes and curtains, pillows, sleeping bags, silverware, dishes, pots and pans, and backpacks.
Once the bags are filled, residents can place them on their tree lawns the same day as their garbage pickup. A separate truck with the words "Simple Recycling" -- the name under which Great Lakes is doing business in North Royalton -- will pick up the soft recyclables.
Great Lakes workers will then leave two more soft-recyclable bags behind for residents. If residents want additional bags, or experience a problem, they can call Great Lakes directly.
Items excluded from Great Lakes pickups include garbage, hazardous waste, carpet, newspapers, mattresses, large furniture, large appliances, magazines, cribs, paint, tires, cleaners, yard waste or any item heavier than 50 pounds.
The company will also give soft-recyclable containers to the city, which will place them at the municipal Service Center on Royalton Road. Great Lakes will not provide service to businesses.
The new service comes about 16 months after the city approved a five-year, $7.7 million contract with Rumpke Waste & Recycling in Colerain, Ohio, for garbage disposal and recycling services.
Under that contract, Rumpke is providing automated recycling pickup for the first time in North Royalton. Residents, instead of placing recyclables in blue bags or small blue bins, drop them in specially designed, wheeled 65-gallon containers. Automated trucks with robotic arms lift and empty the containers on trash day.
Recyclables that Rumpke collects include aluminum and steel cans, cartons, glass bottles and jars, cardboard and plastic containers.