ST. LOUIS – A viewer video appeared to show a St. Louis refuse truck mixing trash & recycling. City leaders said it’s not what it seems.
The video was from a resident in Tower Grove Heights. It showed a brown garbage bin being dumped in a trash truck behind Hartford Street, followed by the contents of the blue recycling bin. It all goes into the same truck.
“I’ve been noticing that both dumpsters have been taken by the same truck for a long time,” said Rich Iezzi, who shot the video.
The St. Louis mayor’s office insisted they really are recycling despite what Iezzi recorded. Though the city did suspend alleyway recycling for a few months from the end of 2021 into this year. It said it’s been back in the alleyway recycling action since May 31.
The mayor’s office provides an August 1 invoice as evidence. The invoice said in July, Waste Management weighed more than 908 tons of recycling and charged St. Louis about $51,000 for one batch. Waste Management collected another batch of more than 283 tons of recycling, charging more than $16,000.
So, what about what Iezzi captured on video? The St. Louis Mayor’s office released the following statement:
“The city continues its commitment to single stream recycling, and the refuse division will look into this instance.”
Iezzi said he is curious if he’ll see a change for the better in his alleyway. He said he’ll keep monitoring pickups.
