The Public Works Department is in the process of putting together a survey aimed at giving the City of Bartlesville more insight into what sanitation and recycling customers want and are willing to pay for.

Public Works Director Keith Henry mentions that there is no profit in recycling right now. On a normal year, Henry says recycling will cost the City of Bartlesville $50,000. That's because the city has to meet transportation and labor costs.

Henry says the Public Works Department has tried to keep the recycling center open for extended hours in the past but ran into problems with people dumping garbage, trash and other items at the center during off hours. That lead to the reduction of the recycling center’s hours. The center is now kept open only when sanitation staff is on duty to monitor it.

Major cities like Tulsa subsidize for recycling, Henry says. Upon research, Henry says Tulsa subsidizes for recycling every year at about $355,000.

The survey should come out sometime next year.