Due to a lack of profitability, Freel Sanitation has replaced its public drop-off recycling bins with Curbside Recycling, a new program offered to Ames residents.

“The drop-off bins were not cost-effective,” said Barry Stouwie, operations manager of Freel Sanitation, 210 Freel Drive. “There was no way to charge customers.”

The cost for the public recycling bins was not economically sound for the company, Stouwie said. It cost $20 to recycle one ton of newsprint, and glass, plastic, metal and other products cost more than that per ton.

“On Feb. 1 we started the Curbside Recycling program, and it’s been going very well,” he said.

Dennis Mass, district manager of Freel Sanitation, said some customers have said the curbside system is a better method of recycling.

“We offer this for the residents, as an alternative to the Resource Recycling program,” Mass said.

Curbside Recycling is a four-material recycling program, including clear glass, metal, plastic No. 1, plastic No. 2 and newsprint.

“One thing I’ve noticed is people are amazed at how cheap it is to be in the program,” Stouwie said.

Customers pay $2.50 each month to have their recycling materials picked up once every two weeks. An 18-gallon recycling bin is included in the fee, and he said usually the glass, metal and plastic go inside the bin and the newspapers are bundled on top.

Stouwie said there are two criteria customers must meet before they can use the program.

“They have to live in Ames,” and also must “use Freel as a garbage company,” he said.

Freel Sanitation has had a “very good response from the community,” Stouwie said. The program has only been under way for a month, he said, but “everyone seems receptive.”

“The main reason we started it was because our customers seemed to want it,” Mass said. “They wanted to know where their recycling was going.”

Stouwie said one benefit of the program is that Freel Sanitation can monitor the recycled products.

“We can tell now where the recycling is from and where it’s going,” he said. “It’s easier to track.”

Stouwie said he is reassured by the amount of recycling the company has received and the positive response from the community.

“It’s difficult to judge if the same amount of recycling has come in this first month of the program,” he said.

However, Stouwie said one disadvantage to the new system is the restricted clientele.

“One thing with the drop-off bins is that residents from other towns would also bring over recyclables,” he said. “Now we’re limited to Ames.”