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Details about Indianapolis’ delayed rollout of curbside recycling—to 2028 rather than an initial goal of 2025—are coming to light now that the city’s solid waste contracts have been signed.
Officials in Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration had previously cited ongoing contract negotiations as a reason for not wholly describing the reason for the timeline shift. On Wednesday, the Board of Public Works approved the final solid waste contract, a deal with Illinois-based Lakeshore Recycling Systems.
In 2026, Lakeshore will take over routes that are now serviced by WM, formerly Waste Management, and Republic Services. The city’s own staff will continue to service the rest of the trash pickup routes. However, WM will process Marion County recyclables.
Daniel Stevenson, administrator of strategy and technology for DPW, said that WM is in the midst of a $63 million investment in an existing facility that will allow it to process recyclable materials in Marion County, rather than shipping them elsewhere.
Stevenson said moving the curbside recycling program to 2028 will allow WM time to finish that project and allow the city, WM and residents to be fully prepared for what can be recycled. Stevenson noted that the facility upgrade will make the recycling program more economically beneficial to the city.
A spokesperson for WM said the retrofit of the existing facility at 2025 Stout Field Drive is expected to be complete this fall. The single-stream recycling facility will use conveyor belts with optical sorting scanners for both fibers and plastic as well as system upgrades to support glass recovery and clean up. It will be able to process 200,000 tons of materials annually.
City officials have said they need until 2028 to educate Indianapolis residents about what they can and can’t recycle and how to use the recycling bins that will be delivered to their homes for curbside recycling.
Natalie Van Dongen, deputy director of policy and planning for the Department of Public Works, said the final plans for the WM processing facility plan needed to be solidified before that education could be planned and the solid waste contracts finalized. That’s because both were contingent on what the WM facility could recycle and where the hauling contractor would be taking those items.
“That is, I would say, the largest contributing factor to the timeline that we landed on,” Van Dongen told IBJ. She called the facility upgrades “part of the agreement” that the city had with WM for processing recyclables.
Officials were also prioritizing the change in hauling contractors. Lakeshore Recycling Systems will take on the 157,000 units where WM and Republic Services currently provide trash pickup. As part of that transition, the Illinois-based company plans to open an Indianapolis office. It will also have to establish an Indianapolis-based workforce, distribute bins, create a pickup schedule and establish routes for drivers.
Lakeshore Recycling Systems has said it intends to hire many of the WM and Republic employees currently working those routes.
The new contracts all begin Jan. 1, 2026. Both WM and Lakeshore Recycling Systems have committed to assisting with education efforts before the rollout of universal curbside recycling in 2028.
“WM looks forward to supporting the city of Indianapolis as they initiate, grow and expand their universal curbside recycling program by providing critical, cutting-edge recycling infrastructure and engaging local education programs that meet the community where they live, where they engage, where they learn and where they visit across Indianapolis and Marion County,” the company wrote in a statement.
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so City officials assume the population of Indianapolis is as slow to learn as the city officials are?
Given how the population of Indianapolis totally abuses the drop-off program, yep. Maybe even slower.
JJ, I have been an avid recycler for years and yes, education is absolutely needed. People abuse the drop off sites by dumping all sorts of things that are not recyclable. And before anyone attacks recycling as woke I became a recycler because of lessons learned from my parents, who grew up during the Great Depression and World War II, which was a time when things were reused, repurposed and recycled regularly. Sadly, following the war we became a throw away society but now we face scarcity of landfill space (no one wants a landfill in their area) and reusing resources simply makes sense.
Where did this Lakeshore come out of and how could they outbid waste management for trash collection? Seems like a recipe for a major problem.
2 years to educate people? Send a monthly flyer/postcard to all residents. Would be ready to go mid-2026 at the latest. 2028 implementation? That’s insulting.
Please, please, I hope they collect the old cans since we will be needing new ones. I saw on article say that “the owners can keep the cans as new ones will be delivered” I have no use or space for two additional cans. I currently still have they one they were supposed to come and take from me from when WM took over Rays Recycling. Small garage, can’t leave them outside per neighborhood rules. I will not need 4 cans if they won’t pick up the old ones.
Please make sure the new recycling partner can handle PLASTIC BAGS!!!!
No curbside recycling system can handle plastic bags. Take the plastic bags to where you get your groceries. Indiana has one of North America’s largest plastic bag recycling facility in North Vernon with another just opening in Connersville and another soon in Evansville.
That’s right. Kroger, Walmart and Meijer all have plastic bag collection bins right inside their doors.
This doesn’t make any sense. Must be more to the story. Keep digging.