ORLANDO, Florida — Orange County officials say their recycling program is costing them – and taxpayers – more money.

They say one of the reasons for the increase in cost is not that people aren’t recycling, but it’s that they aren’t recycling properly.

Waste managers spent two months this past summer in the Park Manor subdivision, in east Orange County, literally going through people’s trash.  During the pilot project, the county issued each homeowner a tag evaluating each on how well they were recycling.

The results are now in and show while most homeowners put their recycling can out, many were still throwing in items that weren’t actually recyclable.

County officials say many people are still collecting recyclable items like paper and bottles, and placing them in plastic bags. They say just a few of those plastic bags is all it takes for waste collectors to reject an entire neighborhood’s recycling load and send it to the regular landfill with general garbage.

“To think I go through a lot of effort to recycle, and then you have one individual that throws what they shouldn’t into recycling, and then all my effort goes to waste,” said resident Angel Sanchez.

County waste managers say contaminated recycling materials drives up recycling costs so much, it now actually costs the county money to recycle. Years ago, the county made money off recycling.

By the end of the county’s eight-week education program, data shows the county doubled the amount of homeowners who were recycling properly.

Orange County waste managers say they plan to do another recycling education program in different neighborhood in 2019. They say homeowners in different areas of Central Florida should check with their local county or city government to find out the rules of their own recycling program.