Recycling IQ Program Aims to Improve City’s Residential Recycling

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): Watch what you recycle. If you’re not careful, it might not be picked up. Newburyport’s Recycling, Energy and Sustainability Department recently received a grant called the Recycling IQ Kit through the state Department of Environmental Protection to drastically improve the city’s residential recycling by educating residents about what should – and should not – be put in the recycling bin.

The Recycling IQ Kit combines an aggressive campaign of education and direct feedback. Starting this week, residents living along certain recycling routes in Newburyport will have their barrels checked for items that should not be recycled.

And in two weeks, containers found with violations will be marked with a sticker and not emptied by the city’s recycling trucks. The education effort also includes direct mail to residents, newspaper ads, social media ads, as well as banners and sandwich boards that will be placed around the city. 

Recycling and energy manager Molly Ettenborough said the program came in response to a statewide problem with recycling carts being contaminated by items that don’t belong. In Newburyport, the biggest problem is plastic bags, which can wrap around recycling equipment and shut down plant operations.  “Between people bagging their recycling, and recycling food waste, clothes and other contaminants, there are a lot of things that are slowing down the recycling process,” Ettenborough said.

The program is also being implemented in five other Massachusetts communities: Dartmouth, New Bedford, Groton, Lynn and Abington. Mayor Donna Holaday expressed her support of the program in a press release.

“I encouraged and supported applying for this grant as we have a strong recycling and energy department but we can always improve our efforts. This is best accomplished through increased education,” Holaday said. “The waste disposal market is currently very unstable and unpredictable and we must do everything we can to help mitigate and insulate Newburyport from the drastic cost increases anticipated in the next few years.”

Ettenborough said residents can cost the city about four cents per pound of recyclable material by not recycling as much as they can and should, which could add up to about $32,000 in tax dollars wasted each year if they fail to recycle at least two pounds a week. But there are other even greater financial incentives for doing everything possible.

The ultimate goal of the program, Ettenborough said, is to save the city money when both its collection and trash disposal contracts expire at the end of this year.  She said prospective vendors will consider the amount of contamination in the city’s recycling collection and the amount of recycling in trash when bidding on a new contract. She hopes the grant will educate residents, enforce ordinances, and enable Newburyport to have a better bargaining position next year.

Courtesy: https://wasteadvantagemag.com