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Fayetteville will temporarily suspend curbside recycling beginning Monday, March 23 to help limit the spread of coronavirus. Residential and small commercial trash collection will continue, along with residential yard waste compost collection.

Extra bag charges for residential trash pickup will be waived during the suspension.

Because the curbside recycling program requires hand sorting of materials and there are still many unknowns about how long the virus can live on surfaces, city officials said the idea is to limit workers’ potential exposure to the virus and to reduce chances of community spread.

The newer small apartment recycling program, which uses green 18-gallon bins with black domed lids will also be suspended. Recycling bins at those locations will be picked up and removed to avoid trash accumulating on site during the suspension period.

Because of the suspension, recycling drop-off will be available 24 hours a day beginning March 23 at the following locations:

Recycling drop-off locations

Happy Hollow Recycling Drop-Off – 1420 S. Happy Hollow Road
Marion Orton Recycling Drop-Off – 735 W. North Street
Boys and Girls Club – 560 N. Rupple Road
Lokomotion Family Fun Park – 4520 N. College Ave.
Gary Hampton Field – 2790 N. Salem Road
Fayetteville Athletic Club – 2920 E Zion Road
Northwest Arkansas Mall (beginning May 11) – 4201 N. Shiloh Dr.

Officials said attendants at the Happy Hollow and Marion Orton drop-off sites will be practicing social distancing as recommended by the CDC and will not be helping with materials.

Collection of automated recycling services will continue as normal, including regular pickup of commercial cardboard dumpsters, commercial paper dumpsters, glass carts and food waste carts. The $5 fee charged to businesses that currently participate in the curbside recycling collection in the 18-gallon bins with black domed lids will be waived until the service is reinstated, according to a news release.