Bartlesville Residents Frustrated Over Lack Of Recycling Options

There is growing concern in Bartlesville over how long the city will be without a recycling service a month after a fire shut down a Tulsa recycling plant.

Bartlesville residents don't have many options outside paying for a private service or driving their boxes or bags of recycling to another city.

Now, a month after service was shuttered, frustration and recyclables are starting to mount.

Glen Mason has tried to cut back on what goes out of his home and into a landfill.

"Well, my first reaction was, we're going to have a lot more going in our trash,” Mason said. “And that means there's a lot more going in the landfill. I don't want to see it filled up any faster than it has to be."

Bartlesville city councilman Paul Stuart said the city is feeling the ripple effect of a fire that shut down a Tulsa recycling facility fire a month ago.

"With that being shut down, we've shut down the city drop off location," Stuart said.

Mason has since resorted to storage in an effort to try and outlast the shutdown.

"Our aluminum cans, somehow I just can't bring myself to put aluminum cans in the trash,” Mason said. “And they're starting to stack up.”

Mason and residents reached a tipping point and were forced to toss their recycling in the trash.

Mason said this has directly increased the load headed to the local landfill.

"It used to be that we'd fill up one trash bag in the kitchen a week,” Mason said. “Well, we filled up our second one on the second day after trash drop.”

Stuart said it could be months before the Tulsa plant is operational again.

"It's just a waiting game," Stuart said. "We've heard that at first it could've been a few weeks and now we're hearing, I think the longest I've heard is eight months before it's back online. So, you know, it's the new normal for now."

A private company called Recyclops has picked up some of the slack in Bartlesville.

You can find out more about the paid service by clicking here.