How To Spark New Interest In Community Recycling Programs

Although recycling is a way of life for many Americans, too many communities are still lagging.Often, it takes the concentrated efforts of average citizens to encourage city officials to launch an effective community recycling program.

Plenty of novel ideas and recycling initiatives exist, including these four ways to promote recycling featured on House Logic:

1. Recycling Reward Program: Encourage your city council to supply its residents with bar-coded recycling bins. Each week, collectors weigh the refuse and reward residents based on the amount received.
2. Pay As You Throw: Communities that use this program encourage residents to send less material to the landfill because residents pay based on weight and not on a monthly flat fee.
3. Single-Stream Recycling: Another way to promote recycling is to implement a program that uses a single-container system with containers strategically placed throughout the community. By removing the task of sorting recyclable materials, participation increases.
4. Use Solar-Powered Compactors: Add an element of sustainability to a community’s program by using trash cans with solar-powered compactors. These intriguing devices can also alert city workers when a receptacle needs to be emptied.

House Logic also advises community leaders to talk up their community recycling program because sometimes people don’t recycle materials due to misinformation.

For years, people have removed bottle caps from plastic containers, thinking the caps could not be recycled. But as Plastics Makes It Possible points out, by shredding the lids and caps during the reclaiming process the plastics easily separate by weight for reuse.

The website also points out that even people who consistently recycle plastic bottles from their kitchen may forget the other rooms in their home; plastic containers from the garage, bathroom, or garden can also be recycled.