Recycling service returns to Du Quoin

Less than two months after Du Quoin's recycling program was cut from the 2021 budget, the city is offering a new program to residents and businesses.

A Carbondale company will begin in March to pick up recyclables at residences and commercial sites in Du Quoin and Pinckneyville that sign up for the service.

Revolutionary Recycling provides 95-gallon carts on wheels for cardboard and mixed paper, and 65-gallon carts for glass, metal and plastics 1 & 2; or customers can buy their own. Each cart from Revolutionary Recycling requires a $50 deposit. Pickup costs are $5 per service for one or two carts; $4 per service for customers who have three to five carts; and $3 per service for customers with six or more carts.

Customers can set up their own schedule for pickups based on their needs, said Du Quoin City Commissioner Jill Kirkpatrick.

Already, 40 people have signed up for the service, Kirkpatrick added, and Revolutionary Recycling would like to have at least 60 customers when it kicks off in March.

Kirkpatrick said the city of Du Quoin and Du Quoin Unit District 300 have signed up - in fact, the city has had to padlock its own bin because people have been coming by and dumping their own recyclables in it.

Kirkpatrick added that neighbors can go in on the service together, if they want, and split the costs.

Mayor Guy Alongi is happy that Du Quoin has brought back recycling so quickly.

"We took a lot of heat when we stopped recycling," he said Monday. The old program wound up costing the city more money and staff time than it wanted to spend, as people were leaving non-recyclable or prohibited items both in and around the three recycling bins placed around the city.

For questions or to sign up for service, call (877) 316-1776; visit RecycleWhereYouWork.com or email RecycleWhereYouWork@gmail.com.