BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Rather than spend $3 million to buy each county resident a recycling bin, an aggressive education campaign might make more sense to boost recycling rates, two council members said.

“You’d think you have time to wait a year on these bins and have an education campaign,” said Council Chairwoman Courtney Watson, D-District 1.

County Executive Ken Ulman wants to buy the bins to increase recycling. The county pays $33 per ton for trash collection, a rate expected to skyrocket when the contract with Waste Management expires in 2013.

Watson said there might be time to see whether an educational campaign could boost the recycling rate.

At a work session on the operating budget Tuesday, she and Councilman Greg Fox, R-District 5, questioned whether it was a good year to spend money on bins — and increase the trash collection fee.

Ulman proposed a $50 increase in the trash collection fee for most residents, bringing the annual fee to $225. Residents in the west who don’t receive yard waste collection service would see a $35 increase. The increase is expected to help offset that anticipated cost increase in 2013.

“In my district, residents across the board are struggling,” Watson said.

Fox said there were a “lot of other good uses” for that $3 million, such as investing in future employee benefits.

An education campaign would be less expensive, and the county could then see whether recycling rates go up with more outreach, Fox said.

However, the bins are key to boosting recycling rates, county officials said.

In the Elkridge and Ellicott City neighborhoods given bins last year as part of a pilot program, monthly recycling rates have increased from 73 percent to 87 percent, and the volume has gone up 25 percent, county officials said.

“The bins speak for themselves,” Department of Public Works Director Jim Irvin said.

Some county residents still don’t know the county has single-stream recycling, and more bins would raise that awareness and lead to more recycling, he said.

“I think its a good investment.”

smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com