At Monday night's Oak Ridge North City Council meeting, council members discussed a possible increase in recycling fees, stemming from a request from Waste Management.

Terry Woodson, public sector solutions manager with Waste Management, addressed city council members at the meeting and said the company is requesting to add 96 cents to the charges to the city for recycling. The increase is due to changes to the market precipitated by the Chinese ban of certain materials as well as limitations on contamination, Woodson said. Oak Ridge North's current charges are set at $12.60 per household.

"Right now the recycling market is running between 25 to 30 percent contamination," Woodson said. "So if something is 100 pounds, then a third of it is pure garbage. Our machines that were built to go high speed are now moving at a fraction of the speed they were before and there is now more staff to remove the trash materials."

Woodson said trash such as bowling balls and strings of Christmas lights are among the items contaminating the recycling program.

"There’s always been contamination, just not to the degree it's at now," she said. "We have spent a lot of time and energy trying to see how to fix things and right now we’re just trying to get a handle on it. It’s a worthwhile program."

Oak Ridge North City Council members have 30 days to respond to the request and unanimously decided to table the item. Members are expected to discuss the request again at the next city council meeting.

"I want the people who are bigger offenders to pay a bigger price," Council Member Clint McClaren said. "If we do a better job then The Woodlands or Conroe then we ought to get a better rate."