Sanitation superintendent reports recycling growth, rising e-waste costs and truck delays

Jason Donati, sanitation superintendent for Muncie City, gave the board a year-in-review and current-status report on Feb. 19, covering recycling, trash collection, code enforcement, vehicle procurement and staffing. Donati said curbside recycling tonnage increased in 2024, the city expanded school roll-off recycling at several schools and the program is collecting cleaner material than in its first year.

Donati told commissioners the city covers roll-off fees at participating schools (named in his report as Delta High School, Cowan, Muncie Central and Inspire Academy) to encourage participation. He said household hazardous-waste collection last year totaled 24.47 tons, the trucks picked up 29,357.85 tons of trash from routes, and the neighborhood cleanup program removed 56.2 tons across 15 neighborhoods.

Electronics recycling is increasingly costly, Donati said; the fee to process e-waste roughly doubled and the sanitation department is exploring alternative processing sites and possible…