Massachusetts recycling companies made a promise to voters in 2014: There was no need to expand the state’s bottle bill, because curbside recycling was doing the job. That sales pitch worked, and voters overwhelmingly rejected expanding the 5-cent deposit law to bottled water, juice, sports drinks, and other noncarbonated beverages.

Now, though, some of the same waste management companies that fought the bottle bill are not living up to their end of the bargain. This year, costs have been spiking so much that some communities have had to suspend their curbside pick-up programs.

It’s regrettable that any municipality would take that step, since there’s a risk that consumers will get out of the recycling habit. Towns should hold off if they can afford to. But the decision is understandable. Rockland was paying $3 a ton to have their recyclables disposed of; now it is facing a cost of $70 per ton.

Abington was paying zero and is now facing charges of $62 a ton. Rather than pay the astronomical prices, Plymouth recently eliminated its curbside recycling program.

The burden is on the companies to get costs under control so that curbside programs remain viable.It might help if the Legislature gently signalled a willingness to reconsider the bottle bill if costs don’t decline.

The danger is that without either deposits or curbside recycling, recyclable materials will end up in landfills — or as litter.

The recycling companies have blamed the price spikes a new antipollution policy in China, which no longer wants to accept so much American garbage. As a result, there’s been an increasing backup of waste at most recycling plants all over the country, including Massachusetts. Whereas municipalities used to make money on recycled waste, now they have to pay companies to transport it to landfills or incinerators.

The trend toward single-stream recycling helped precipitate China’s crackdown, because it’s caused consumers to pay less attention to whether items they thrown in the blue bin are actually recyclable. Single-stream has become garbage time: Think tires, garden hoses, plastic bags, and even jars with food residue or greasy pizza boxes that contaminate the recycling stream.

Finding another developing country to accept our tainted junk would be a solution of sorts. But here’s another: The companies that spent so heavily to oppose the bottle bill could make a similar public-relations investment now, to urge consumers to put fewer impurities into the recycling stream to begin with. The state is working with municipalities on a list of recyclables, but educating the public should be a shared responsibility.