After the blue LRS truck empties your recycling cart at the curb, what happens to what you threw into the cart?
Rumors have circulated in Kewanee recently that at least some of the recycled materials end up in a landfill, such as the one LRS operates near Atkinson.
But when asked about the rumor, City Manager Gary Bradley said, “I know that’s not true.”
And an LRS executive said the same thing.
Josh Connell, vice president of government affairs for LRS and one of the founders of the company, said all of the stuff that Kewaneeans place in their recycling carts goes to a recycling facility.
Connell explained that when the recycling truck is filled, it takes the materials to the city transfer station, where it’s loaded into semi trucks.
The rumor may have originated from the fact that the semis that haul away the recyclables are from the Atkinson landfill. But Connell said the trucks don’t go back to the landfill; they head to one of the three recycling centers LRS operates in the Chicago area.
It wouldn’t make sense to take recyclables to a landfill, he said, adding that “There’s no incentive but to do the right thing.”
LRS provides trash and recycling services to more than 150 communities, Connell said.
He said company officials are pleased with how the Kewanee operation has been going since it began in September. He added that he hopes for more growth in the number of Kewanee households that recycle.
Connell noted that recycling is easier now, since Kewaneeans no longer have to purchase special trash bags for their recycling, and don’t have to separate paper from glass and cans.
Facing a need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a couple of new garbage trucks, the City Council decided earlier this year to hire LRS to take over trash and recycling pickup. No one lost their city job; the four people who had been assigned to garbage and recycling pickup were transferred to other city departments, and the city continues to operate the transfer station on the grounds of the wastewater treatment plant.
