Results of Earth 911/ISRI Online Opinion Poll on Recycling published

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): The results of the online opinion poll on recycling habits conducted by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc., (ISRI) in collaboration with Earth 911 have been released. The poll results suggest public views on local government’s efforts to boost recycling rates.

The poll had asked respondents to suggest the most effective way to boost quantity and quality of recyclables placed in bins. Over 40% of respondents indicate that the best option for local governments to have right things in the recycling bins is by providing bins that contain clear labels indicating what can be put into the bins and what cannot be. Nearly 25% of people suggested that local governments should send a postcard stating the list of recyclable and non-recyclable items. Over 19% people prefer educating the residents through website. Meantime, 15.5% of poll participants suggested that notes with local recycling information be provided to violators.

According to Robin Wiener, president of ISRI, many local communities still remain confused over what can and what cannot be recycled. Misinformation about recyclables results in higher contamination rate in recycling stream and low recyclable recovery rate. Through the poll, public has expressed the need for more recycling information to be provided in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of recycling.

Mixing of trash with recyclables leads to drop in recycling rates and deterioration in value of recyclables. Removal of non-recyclables from the recycling stream requires installation of costly equipment. Presence of non-recyclables may lead to hours of downtime for cleaning and maintenance operations. In order to do away with confusion among the public, many communities have switched to single-stream recycling. However, results indicate that contamination rates have only increased.

The Earth911/ISRI Opinion Poll took place from December 4 to January 13, 2016. A total of 1,224 responses were received.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) is the voice of the Recycling Industry. ISRI represents more than 1,600 companies in 21 chapters nationwide that process, broker and industrially consume scrap commodities, including metals, paper, plastics, glass, rubber, electronics and textiles. Earth911 (www.earth911.com) is a lifestyle and media publishing company that helps consumers live a zero waste lifestyle.