MARION — There will be a forum about Marion’s recycling program held on Nov. 14 at Marion Music Hall starting at 7 p.m.

With costs in the recycling industry rising, town officials want to brief residents on the recycling guidelines to try and keep costs low for the town-wide service. 

"The purpose of the forum is to give our residents a refresher on recycling and provide helpful tips," according to Town Administrator Paul Dawson. "We want make sure that residents are recycling properly, which helps to keep our trash dumping costs down overall."

Patti Howard, a Community Outreach Coordinator for Covanta Energy, will be speak at the event and demonstrate which items are considered proper recyclables or “contaminated” items. 

Items that are deemed to be contaminated, such as plastic bags and containers with food residue, can be rejected by recycling centers. The more items that are rejected, the higher the cost will be to transport and dump the trash. 

Marion uses a single-stream recycling program, where all types of recyclables are collected curbside. 

“This is something that is impacting communities across the country," according to Dawson. "While it is not a major issue for us now, we want to stay ahead of things and hope that residents will be diligent in their recycling efforts going forward.”