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The number of city snoopers peeking into residential waste bins to ensure the proper refuse is being deposited is set to quadruple this year as the city looks to get the biggest bang for its recycling buck.

A practice quietly performed by waste and recycling staffers since the inception of the city’s blue bin program in 2009, the receptacles have been spot-checked to ensure the proper material is in them before they enter the recycling stream.

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But it’s not enough, say city bureaucrats, who want to significantly expand the bin peeping program.

Sharon Howland, leader of program management for waste and recycling, said crews have been performing checks on about 5,000 blue and green bins annually for the past number of years, but given an increasingly competitive market for the product, it’s more critical than ever that recyclables entering the stream are as pure as possible.

“With changes in the recycling market, we really have to make sure we’re providing the end market with recyclables that are high quality,” she said.