<B>Slack Recycling Participation Hampers Kansas County</B>

Limited participation in Kansas’ Sedgwick County voluntary recycling program may force county commissioners to impose a mandatory fee to provide curbside collection. The county, which includes Wichita, has struggled to reach levels sought for by the County Commission.

Figures from a study completed last year show that only 15 percent of Wichita-area residents recycle, nowhere near the 50 percent sought by the Sedgwick County Commission.

According to Jo Sanders, with the Sedgwick County Department of Environmental Resources, the estimated recyclables that should be collected to meet the county’s ambitious figures would be 13,808 tons a year. However, the material presently being collected for recycling total around 5,080 tons.

Unless half of residents begin recycling by the end of next year, the county will mandate all haulers servicing the county to impose a monthly fee and provide curbside collection of the recyclables.

The proposed edict targets people who live in single-family homes in 20 cities and towns.

Curbside recycling service is available in Sedgwick County, but for a fee ranging from $3-$4.50 a month.

There are 122,280 single-family households in the county. Materials that are being collected through the voluntary program include old newspaper, plastic bottles and jugs, aluminum and tin cans, and glass bottles.