By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Marion City Council members decided Monday to start charging residents $8 a month for formerly free recycling services.

The charge will be on top of what residents already pay for refuse service and in addition to a solid waste fee charged to every county resident for operation of the county transfer station.

Those who want recyclable items picked up in the future also will need to enroll for the service so trash trucks don’t have to drive every street looking for recyclable material.

One avid recycler expressed surprise at the move but said she would talk to the city to find out why the extra charge was needed.

“I’ll talk to them about why they are doing that and see if there is something we can do about it,” said Margaret Wilson, who lives in the 400 block of Elm St.

Wilson also was surprised to hear that only 19% of Marion residents recycle.

“This is surprising to me because in the area where I live we have many, many recyclers,” she said. “Being a single person, I rarely put a trash bag out because I recycle nearly everything.”

Wilson said she trusted that the city knew what it was talking about and that there must be a reason.

At Monday’s meeting, city administrator Roger Holter said travel costs for collecting recyclables and taking them to the transfer station had gone up.

He said he had checked with out-of-town recyclers and found their lowest charge to Marion customers would be $20 a month.

Council member Ruth Herbel suggested the city look into picking up recyclable material every other week instead of weekly, and charge $2 for weeks the city picks up.

Items the city will pick up to recycle include glass jars and bottles; plastic bottles; aluminum, tin, or steel cans; rigid plastic food containers; junk mail; books; paper bags; cardboard other than pizza boxes; magazines; catalogs; newspapers; inserted ads; office paper; and file folders.