Indianapolis plans to launch 1-bin recycling venture

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Recycling industry leaders are closely watching an Indianapolis plan to use automated equipment to sort recyclable items from other trash.

Covanta hopes to break ground this fall on a $45 million recycling facility and have it running by 2016. The Indianapolis Business Journal reports the facility will allow residents to throw everything from diapers to soda cans into one trash bin, with the contents sorted by optical sorting equipment.

Supporters say the one-bin system cuts the collection cost of recycling. But opponents say it will prohibit Indianapolis from expanding its existing curbside recycling program and question whether it could reduce recycling in business settings as people become accustomed to dumping everything into one container.

A similar program was launched in Montgomery, Alabama, last year.