CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A trip to the green dumpsters behind Chesapeake City Hall has become part of the weekly routine for city residents like Tim Marker.
“When we learned these were here, we started dumping here," Marker said, who brings everything from milk jugs and other random plastic containers, helping his grandmother keep her place clean.
But on Nov. 5, Chesapeake voters have a chance to weigh in on whether the city should once again take over a greater share of responsibility for recycling disposal.
This summer, Chesapeake City Council voted to include an advisory referendum on the November ballot, which will read:
Should City Council adopt an ordinance imposing a mandatory fee of up to $10 per month on all households that receive City trash service in order to re-establish curbside recycling for those households only?
In 2022, the City of Chesapeake ended its curbside recycling program, leading to the implementation of eight free drop off sites across the city. The city has seen this switch as generally positive, citing the reduced cost incurred by the city government of roughly $2.2 million, and that it's led to a smaller contamination rate for the materials that are actually recycled.
In the first year after Chesapeake stopped its curbside service, it collected more than 3,000 tons of recycling debris from the drop sites.
Although not officially operated under the city's purview, there is still a subscription-based recycling program as well as a composting provider that operates in Chesapeake.
“Ten bucks to me ain’t that much in the grand scheme of things, if I know the things I'm throwing away isn’t going into a landfill for thousands of years," Marker said.
With the question being solely an advisory referendum, city council ultimately will still have the final say on whether it moves forward.