Digging through garbage is becoming more acceptable everyday as recycling becomes commonplace in DeKalb.

DeKalb County Recycling, Inc. has placed a 20 cubic-yard, tan container between Suburban Apartments, Annie Glidden Road and Suburban Estates, Twombly Road, in addition to its curbside recycling program.

The container has three compartments so apartment residents can separate their garbage and send it off to be recycled.

The cost of the container is $5,000, said Calvin Tigchelaar, recycling coordinator for DeKalb County Recycling, Inc.

The cost is in direct relation to the container’s large size because the two apartment complexes house many people, Tigchelaar said.

Apartment residents will not have to pay for the container through rent or any other means, he said. The recycling company will pay for the container and the money saved from regular garbage collection will pay for the recycling.

“We’re using this as a pilot program,” Tigchelaar said.

He said he and the managers of the two apartment complexes are waiting for residents’ response before they decide how well the program works.

“We know there’s interest,” Tigchelaar said. “It’s (recycling) caught on like crazy.”

Thomas Kirkland, a senior electrical engineering major who lives at Suburban Apartments, said although he has not used the recycling container yet, he probably will.

The container has been operational for about one week, Laman said. Managers at the apartments put fliers on the residents’ doors the afternoon it was set up to inform them of its use.

“People were asking about it before we even posted the fliers,” said Bud Laman, project engineer for Suburban Apartments and Suburban Estates. “People are using it in a big way.”

“I’ll probably just dump newspapers,” Kirkland said. “I think it’s a great idea.”

Most of the garbage in the container is old newspapers and of the three compartments, the one for newspaper is nearly full, he said.

It would be difficult to determine when the bins will be full because recycling “requires people to change habits—it could happen quickly or in awhile,” Laman said.