ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Putting things in the recycling bin that aren’t recyclable is costing taxpayers.

Since June, the City of Roanoke has paid an extra $40,000 for recycling. The extra fee is from taking trash found in recycling from the facility to the landfill.

To help combat this, the city has launched the “Recycle Right” pilot program to educate the community.

“Contaminated recycling carts negatively impact the environment and result in increased material processing costs. This collaborative effort between the Office of Sustainability, RDS and the Solid Waste Division to evaluate contamination levels within recycling carts will help direct future decisions on targeted recycling education efforts and establish which items are acceptable for collection to maximize the full recovery value of the item,” said City of Roanoke Solid Waste Manager Brian Haynesworth.

From October to December, employees are in Southeast Roanoke looking through recycling bins.

“Plastic bags, things like tanglers, which are cords, hoses, things like that. Wet waste, so things like food and liquids, metal and electronics, and then Styrofoam is the fifth,” said City of Roanoke Sustainability Program Assistant Megan Root.

During the program, the city isn’t issuing fees or penalties. They say it’s about teaching people how to recycle.

“So, if we find any of those in the recycling cart we mark it with an oops tag, and then they need to remove those materials to be serviced on the next recycling day,” added Root.

“Single-stream recycling has made recycling an easier process for our community, but we’ve got to be diligent about making sure only accepted recycling materials are in our containers. It’s unfortunate, just because a product has a recycling symbol on it doesn’t mean it’s recyclable within our current system. When we “wish cycle” - we bog down the collection process, can jam equipment, and increase costs for the City and our regional recycling company, RDS. In the future as the U.S. increases plastic and glass markets, I would really like to see our region increase our recycling offerings to support a more circular economy,” said City of Roanoke Sustainability Coordinator Leigh Ann Weitzenfeld.

Roanoke officials say they are hoping to make this a city-wide program next year.