Zanesville City Council to Face Possible Year-End Recycling Cost Changes

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — The head of the Zanesville district of the Southeast Ohio Joint Solid Waste Management District is cautioning Zanesville City Council about possible changes to the cost of providing recycling services in the area in 2020.

“We have never charged the city one penny for handling, processing, transporting and paying for the processing at the other end. It’s coming to the point now where we have to,” says Rob Reiter, District Coordinator.

Reiter, Monday evening, told Council members there is too much global supply of recyclables and not enough demand to keep pace with defraying costs. Reiter tells WHIZ News he can’t provide any estimates of how much Council should consider charging, if anything, in 2020. He says it’s still too early to know, but international market trends are suggesting changes are to follow.

Reiter says he would like the area to be sent a “homogenous message”. “To have everybody in this solid waste district and in this county and in this city separating the same type of recyclables from their waste and putting them at the curb in the same manner,” he told us.

Reiter in part blames tariffs applied to trade with China for the possible changes in local policy and pricing for recycling services.