Marigny Green News     Curbside Recycling Might be Trashed!

“A city of New Orleans initiative to expand residential recycling citywide might be dead in the water — despite the fact that the city has more than $5 million in financial backing from the Environmental Protection Agency and a national nonprofit”. Unfortunately, only half of the residents in the city have opt into the curbside recycling. A partnership between the NOLA Department of Sanitation and the Office of Resilience and Sustainability provides recycling carts to all single and small multi-family residences. New Orleans was awarded federal money in 2023 to expand the recycling initiative.

“The city was planning to purchase 83,000 recycling carts and educational materials from a contractor at a proposed maximum cost of $4.7 million with $3.3 million of that reimbursable by the EPA. The other $1.4 million would have been provided by matching funds from The Recycling Partnership. But a proposed contract, with supplier Rehrig Pacific Company, would need council approval to move forward.”

Julia Zuckerman, the legislative director for JP Morrell said, “Due to the City’s current budget constraints, we cannot afford to move forward on the EPA grant,” and “No matching funds can be allocated to this grant from the General Fund.”

As for the cost of collecting, expanded recycling will not affect the cost of servicing locations through sanitation contracts. According to the existing city trash and recycling contracts, waste haulers are currently paid to collect recycling based on all “eligible locations” in their service areas, rather than the actual number of households already opted into recycling.

There is a deadline and what happens if the city does not approve the grants and spends the money? Millions of dollars in federal funds will be forfeited.  

New Orleans’ 2022 climate Action Plan developed a solid waste master plan to divert waste from landfills. It is noted the expansion of recycling has support from then John Bel Edward, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, U.S. Rep Troy Carter and other local economic and environmental organizations.

Mayor Helena Moreno in an interview on WWL-TV on February 11, 2026 suggested raising the city sanitation fee and/or eliminating curbside recycling to save the city approximately $12 million a year. Currently, there is no follow-up and/or no response on curbside recycling from Moreno, Morrell, EPA and Recycling Partnership.

What can you do?  Encourage you, your neighbors and friends to engage in curbside recycling. Contact City Council and the Mayor to support curbside recycling. Curbside recycling is important because it promotes environmental sustainability and community health, curbside recycling is important for the following reasons:

• Decreases greenhouse gas emissions associated with waste disposal and manufacturing.
• Reduces landfill waste by diverting recyclable materials from trash.
• Saves energy in the production of new products from recycled materials.
• Conserves natural resources by reusing materials instead of extracting new ones.

Resource: Resource: An article written by Katie Jane Fernelius (February 25, 2026) Verite News