DILWORTH — The city of Dilworth is looking into the possibility of establishing curbside recycling, but how much that might cost residents, or when such a service might start remains undecided.

At a recent Dilworth City Council meeting, council members authorized staff to make a call for proposals, essentially an invitation to businesses to submit ideas to the city on what kind of program could be set up, said Peyton Mastera, city administrator.

He said a number of factors led Dilworth to explore single-sort curbside recycling, including the fact that many people living in Dilworth — particularly recent transplants from other area communities — often ask about such an option and whether it might be made available.



Mastera said timing also played a role, as the city's contract for general garbage collection will be up for grabs June 1 and the city is in the process of reviewing whether to stick with the current provider, Fuchs Sanitation, or give the contract to another company.

He said it's possible general garbage collection and curbside recycling could be provided by one company, or that different service providers would handle each service.

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The city council could be ready to make a decision regarding garbage collection and recycling services in February or March, according to Mastera.

If a curbside recycling provider is found, Mastera said it could be some time before the service is implemented, because the city has not made allowances in the budget for setting it up.



Mastera said nothing has been decided as far as how residents might pay for curbside recycling, but one possibility is that it would show up as an item on residential utility bills.

The population of Dilworth is about 4,500.

The city has about 1,500 residential curbside solid waste collections, about 20 multi‐family residential dumpster collections and about 50 commercial dumpster collections.

Dilworth currently has a centralized drop-off location for recycling, where residents may leave items to be recycled at no charge.

A recent online survey of about 730 Dilworth residents conducted by the city indicated that approximately 48 percent of respondents said they were willing to pay a monthly fee for single-sort curbside recycling.

About 27 percent of respondents said they were not willing to pay for such an option and about 24 percent indicated they weren't sure.