March 1, 2022
Last Spring, the Solid Waste Association of North America's (SWANA) Applied Research Foundation (ARF) issued a report titled Reducing Contamination in Curbside Recycling Programs. The report notes, “many state and local governments have implemented ‘recycle right’ programs that provide clearer and simplified instructions to residents on what recyclables are included in their curbside programs.” The report acknowledges the efforts of NERC Advisory Member The Recycling Partnership (TRP) in providing “Recycling Anti-Contamination Kits” free of charge to recycling program managers. TRP has also, the SWANA report states, “provided grants to numerous communities to support cart implementation and inspection programs.”
Some of the report’s findings focus on the education efforts of the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO). When curbside collection programs replaced 18-gallon bins with 64-gallon roll carts, the percentage of high performers (less than 10% contamination) increased from 39% to 50%. Oddly enough, “despite the extensive educational outreach that was conducted during the bin-to-cart conversion program,” the percentage of under performers (more than 25% contamination) increased as well, albeit slightly.
“Recycling services to Under Performers may need to be suspended to encourage them to comply with applicable curbside recycling rules,” the report states.
In December, SWANA published a companion report to Reducing Contamination. Titled Encouraging Better Curbside Recycling Behaviors, the report focuses on “the costs and effectiveness of educational program options designed to address and improve recycling behaviors of high-performers and learners groups who want to participate correctly in curbside recycling programs.” The report takes note of several efforts to effectively educate residents in curbside programs about reducing contamination:
- The Recycling Partnership recommends five strategies: cart inspection and tagging, and contaminated cart rejection; also, direct mailing, advertising, and social media. However, TRP also concluded that programs relying on education alone are not effective in addressing contamination.
- In 2021, Mecklenburg County, NC spent about $364,000 (or $0.78 per household) on its outreach program to address contamination in recyclables.
- A Waste Management study in Washington state concluded that tagging alone was as effective as inspection and tagging.
- A cart inspection and removal program in Jackson County, Oregon resulted in a 21% decrease in contamination.
- A cart inspection program in Fort Worth, Texas cost the city $500,000 to implement, and resulted in reduced contamination savings of $475,000.
- While TRP recommends direct mailing of contamination-related postcards, the city of Napa, California did not find that direct mailing resulted in significant decreases in contamination.
“The new SWANA ARF report is a powerful tool for local governments assessing how to improve their recycling programs and reduce contamination,” stated David Biderman, SWANA Executive Director and CEO. “With the recent issuance of EPA’s National Recycling Strategy and its identification of reducing contamination as a key objective, the report is particularly timely.”
It is widely understood that this is an all-hands-on-deck moment for the role of recycling in transitioning to an effective circular economy. While the recycling behavior of community residents is but one element of recycling’s contribution, the efforts of all parties to reduce contamination and increase the value of recyclables are necessary and welcome. This is especially the case given that demand by manufacturers for more recycled content is on the upswing.
By Robert Kropp, NERC Office Manager
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