SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A Sioux Falls recycling business says people aren’t recycling as much as they used to.

The city’s recycling rate has dropped from more than 23% in 2018 to less than 19% in 2022, and officials at Millennium Recycling say the trend continues today.

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You may not be able to tell it by this massive pile of recycled materials, but recycling is down across the city of Sioux Falls

“In the last decade, we’ve talked about it going down about 18% and population has grown by 17%. So per person, we’ve got a definite decrease in recycling,” Millennium Recycling President, Shannon Dwire said.

Millennium Recycling President, Shannon Dwire says that’s a concern, because of the impact it has on the landfill.

“People forget that landfill space costs and there’s really no value to it. So you’re just pumping materials into the ground that could be easily used again,” Dwire said.

Millennium hopes by keeping the process simple, more people will decide to recycle.

“There’s so many plastics that are not recyclable and that’s why we stick to bottles, tubs and jugs at Millennium. So I think a lot of it is just ‘it doesn’t matter’ or ‘doesn’t work,’ and in reality, it really does work. And once you see it and realize and understand that it does work, and more people will believe in it,” Millennium Recycling Communications Director, Marissa Begley said.

As Sioux Falls continues to grow, those at Millennium are hoping recycling does too.

“So it doesn’t seem like you’re really doing a lot when you’re just recycling one thing in your bin. But if everyone in your neighborhood, if everyone in your community is doing that together, that does end up saving a lot of resources from the landfill, saving space, saving our environment, the economy, and helping out our energy savings,” Begley said.