The city of Lucas has discontinued curbside recycling due to Barnes Waste Disposal, the recycling provider for the area, not having a cost-effective method to continue the service.

“For the time being [the city of Lucas] has moved from curbside recycling to drop point recycling,” mayor of Lucas Jim Olk said.

The City Council looked into switching to a provider that could provide both curbside waste and recycling service. To do this, however, a separate company would have to charge every home in the Lucas area for this service. Only one-third of residents in the area participated in curbside recycling, so the City Council decided it was not appropriate for all residents to pay for the service.      

According to the Texas Recycling Data Initiative report of 2015, “a total of 20 large and local material recovery facilities reported that 554,598 tons of curbside recyclable material was processed in 2013.”

“It is less convenient [to move to drop point recycling], however, my family still recycles,” Lucas resident and pre-calculus teacher Andrew Stallings said. “What is good about the drop point is that they do take glass [recyclables], and the curbside did not take glass.”

The city is continuing the search for a provider that is willing to give curbside recycling at an affordable rate.

“I have a conference next month that tends to draw [vendors who will do curbside recycling at a reasonable price], and I plan to talk to each one to see what it would take to bring back curbside recycling to the city of Lucas,” Olk said.