TFC Recycling has picked up its large recycling bins placed at 12 different locations around the city after City Manager Selena Cuffee-Glenn decided they should go.

The bins — first those owned by the city, then TFC’s — have been in place for years in the absence of a citywide curbside recycling program. Citizens could haul their recyclable materials to the centers, which were located at strategic locations around the city, usually by roadsides and in vacant lots.

But a citywide curbside program was implemented earlier this year, which included the delivery of more than 29,000 recycling containers to every single-family home in the city.  More than 360 tons of material have been collected from Suffolk residents.

“It is my plan to remove 12 of the 13 recycling convenience centers that were placed at various locations throughout the city,” Cuffee-Glenn wrote in a letter to City Council members dated Oct. 13. “These centers served the city well prior to the new curbside program; however, as most of you are aware, many of these centers have been used as dump sites for items other than the appropriate recycling materials.”

Cuffee-Glenn noted that items such as tires, mattresses, furniture and automobile parts have continually popped up in and around the containers.

“This decision was made in order to ensure that our city remains clean, litter free and aesthetically pleasing to all of our citizens and visitors,” Cuffee-Glenn said.

The one center that will stay is located in the parking lot of the municipal building, across from 441 Market St. The city manager said it has the fewest problems, likely because of its prominent public location.

Residents of apartment buildings that aren’t close to downtown are apparently out of luck unless the apartment management company decides to rent its own recycling container.

“Apartment owners, like other commercial businesses, can contact TFC directly to coordinate the size and location of any recycling containers they would like to rent,” city spokeswoman Debbie George said. She noted that residents of apartments do not pay the monthly $17.50 refuse enterprise fee.