We received this from a City of El Paso employee who has more than a decade of experience in the Environmental Services Department:
“The recycling program started in 2007 under a 20-year contract with Friedman Recycling but was sold a couple years ago to El Paso Disposal (parent company Waste Connections Inc), which renamed it BARCO. In 2020, I found the city had spent $70,000,000 on its recycling program with ZERO return.
According to the original contract, the receiver was to pay the City $750,000, but the contamination level was so high the City absorbed that cost and paid the recycling company for contamination every year since. They wanted as low as 4% contamination but we can’t get below 24% no matter how much PR, advertising, and code enforcement.
The idea for the recycling program was to save landfill space and create revenue, but it has done neither after 19 years. The program had saved less than 1% landfill space and cost $70,000,000 as of 2020.
The contract is up in 2027 and I have asked upper management what is going to happen. I was told they are going to renew it and looking into charging residents for the program (another added fee to your water bill
).”