Tulsans Mixing Garbage With Recycling Waste, Audit Shows

A new audit of recycling handled by the City of Tulsa shows the amount of trash mixed in with it - is increasing. The city separates out sample loads several times a year to see how much mixing there is.

The latest results show 31 percent of it, by weight, is just trash. An education campaign will continue to encourage customers to think about what they recycle.

"People are trying to do the right thing, trying to recycle, they're just not sure of it so they go ahead and put it in the recycle bin," said Keri Fothergill, City of Tulsa. "So we say: when in doubt, check it out on our website, TulsaRecycles.com, and they look at what we want to receive in that blue cart on their curbside."

The city says the biggest problem is plastic shopping bags - which despite their recycling logo - can't be recycled through the curbside system.