Plymouth has dumped controversial plans to change recycling contractors.
Late Tuesday night, the City Council voted to extend its contract with Waste Management, its current recycler, for two years, with the option to extend it to three.
Council members made numerous motions, all of which failed, before Waste Management's director of operations, Steve Metz, came forward at 11:15 p.m. with an option "in the interest of compromise."
He offered a two-year contract. Previously, the company had proposed only a three-year deal. That changed the vote of Council Member Sandy Hewitt, who paused and rubbed her forehead before giving a reluctant "aye." The motion passed 4-3.
In early July, the council voted to negotiate a new recycling contract with Twin Cities-based Eureka Recycling that would have been more expensive but, the city hoped, more innovative than one it now has with Waste Management, the city's recycling provider since the early 1990s.
After Metz sent a letter to all residents warning that a contract with Eureka would force them to do more sorting and pay a higher price, more than 1,200 residents called city officials, and most of them opposed the switch.
In discussing whether to change, council members debated the merits of sorting versus combining recyclables, toured both companies' facilities and weighed whether increased education would improve recycling volume.
The amount the city recycled in tons from 2004 to 2007 dropped by 18.3 percent -- even as the city's population increased. That figure is influenced by several factors, including people recycling less newsprint, both companies said.
