Innovative recycling programs

The company will accept and recycle any of its branded items. Consumers may drop off their items at affiliate Goodwill locations or mail them to the company with a free shipping label. Through a partnership with the National Cristina Foundation, the company connects customers with charities and schools that could benefit from used electronics.

Dell also operates a printer supplies recycling program that allows individuals to bring old printer cartridges to Dell Reconnect sites or Staples office supply stores for safe disposal. Though known primarily for its line of cleaning products, Method has made a new name for itself in the realm of recycling.

These biodegradable bottles are the first of their kind to use ocean plastic as their main component. Since initiating the ColorCycle program, Crayola has worked to reuse old art supplies and teach children about the importance of recycling. Any K school may take part in the initiative, which invites students to collect old Crayola markers and send them back to the company.

Crayola provides prepaid, printable shipping labels, so schools can participate in the initiative for free. The company uses the returned markers to make a clean-burning fuel.

Nike is shrinking its environmental impact by transforming old sneakers into a new material called Nike Grind. Made of recycled polyester and other reused substances, this new, sustainable material is now used in nearly three-quarters of all Nike products. In addition, the company uses Nike Grind to create durable running tracks, tennis courts, and other surface coverings.

I:CO then collects the used clothing and shoes and prepares them for recycling if they cannot be reused. Another company that is tackling ocean plastic pollution is Adidas. The company has made a huge recycling impact thanks to a partnership with Parley for the Oceans, which recovers plastic from the sea.

With the help of the organization, Adidas has developed a line of sustainable footwear called the Parley series. By the end of the year, Adidas hopes to manufacture one million of these shoes. Are you all out of ideas on how to improve your recycling program? Do you know the econmonic gains, energy savings, and greenhouse gas GHG reductions associated with recycling, but need help making it happen? Running a community recycling program is more involved than putting out bins and waiting for material to come.

It's more important for program managers to ensure that they regularly evaluate operations, making the program run as efficiently as possible. Below are eight different programmatick approaches that should be evaluated for prime program potential. Clayton residents more than tripled the amount of waste they recycle thanks to an expanded collection program the town implemented at the beginning of The waste contractor is hauling an average of 11 pounds of recyclables a week per home - more than two and half-times the amount per home in The revised recycling program included the replacement of gallon bins with gallon rollcarts, which are easier for residents to use.

Several more items were also added to collection, including magazines, catalogs, phone books, cereal boxes, junk mail, office waste paper, and plastic bottles and jugs numbered 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. The waste collector also accepts corrugated boxes if they are cut down for easy transport. Expansion of the Town's recycling program, coupled with the collaboration of the City Council and waste collector, has set the stage for a highly successful recycling program.

Reinforce Communication and Outreach. This sounds like a simple start, but regular communication with the public helps reduce contamination and increase participation. Those two factors immediately lead to a more cost effective collection program. As North Carolina's RE3. When conducting recycling outreach, it is important to think of the public in two different groups — those who recycle, and those who don't. When communicating with current recyclers, focus on telling them where, when and what to recycle.

It is less promotion and more instruction. Appealing to non-recyclers takes a little more creativity. With either group, your best bet is to avoid heavy handed environmental messages and guilt-based approaches. Instead focus on appealing to their positive gain. More on connecting to non-recyclers can be found below.

When the public perceives that their community's recycling program is active and well supported, a greater number of people will want to participate at a higher rate.

By helping to establish social norms and conveying to a resident that it's easy to recycle and that many people do it often, a recycling program will benefit from the resulting form of mild community peer pressure. Understanding that the public feels a need to fit in and showing the positive gains from participating in a program is the best way to promote your program.

It is important to make sure that recycling outreach messages are properly crafted and focused. Research conducted by the North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance , as well as other groups like the American Beverage Association , shows that the environmental guilt messages traditionally used by many recycling programs are increasingly ineffective.

Instead, messages should focus on the positive gains made through recycling. It is critical to make sure your program is as accessible to the public as possible. Looking for free recycling materials to use to help your public recycle? No need to reinvent the wheel. Want to see the direct impact of increased participation in your program? The following statistics were derived from RE3. The table presents hypothetical data from the Town of Harrison. Use the table to explore the answers to the scenarios presented below.

Scenarios: Would it be better to try to get 10 percent more for recyclable materials or increase the number of participants by 10 percent? Assume that changes in recycling and solid waste collection costs will, for the most part, offset each other. But if the town got 10 percent more participants for a new participation total of 3, households As we see above, before the increase, the Town of Harrison managed The new participation rate would take them to households recycling lbs for a grand total of That Greater participation has a two-fold impact — more recycling revenue and less disposal costs.

Conclusion: In short, increasing participation is more effective than securing a stronger market value. See the full example and others at RE3. Evaluate your markets. While increasing participation may be the most effective way to boost the economic impact of your recycling program, it is still important to see what kind of marketing pricing your materials are getting.

Evaluating your markets is often as simple as taking the time to stay current on market trends and taking a good hard look at your operations. What is the easiest way to do that?

Working through these steps can ensure that you are as market savvy as they come:. How do your crews handle the equipment and bins? How clean is your equipment? What contaminants are ending up in your collection?

Are your drop-off attendants supportive of recycling? Be prepared to participate in the business economy side of recycling. Most Southeastern communities can use these numbers as a general overview of their own programs. State recycling offices can often provide insight into the specifics of a state or region. Keeping these numbers in mind, a community can then plan on the best way to divert materials from the landfill.

Remember that in the Southeast, demand for recyclables outweighs supply. That means that you should continue to expect strong markets. For example, the demand for aluminum food packaging is shrinking because of an increased use of plastics in soda bottles and other beverage packaging applications.

Information like this may be discouraging to some communities that fear the profitability of future aluminum markets will decrease. However, awareness of market trends will also show that the increased demand for fuel-efficient, lightweight cars is expected to make aluminum more popular in automobile manufacturing.

According to a study conducted by the North Carolina DENR, aluminum is a desirable material in the transportation industry because of its relative strength and lightweight properties. The average aluminum content per passenger car increased from pounds in to pounds in , according to the North Carolina DENR. If the use of aluminum in automobiles continues to grow, then the prosperity of the transportation industry might determine the demand for aluminum.

Evaluate your contract. Managing a hauler contract can be hard work. When was the last time you evaluated your hauler contract? Here are some considerations that can get you started:.

Even in small cities, the returns from an efficient recycling program can have quite an impact. Another consideration when it comes to market value is to auction materials off to the highest bidder.

Recyclables are valuable commodities with local, national, and international demand. By auctioning off materials, the highest bidder wins, which can be an even greater win for the community. Remember your recyclables have value! A poorly written contract can break a program.

At a minimum, your contract should:. Markets for recycled materials are strong in the Southeast. Paper, plastic, cardboard, and metals fetch strong prices in most Region 4 states.

Instead of sticking to only traditional materials, such as newspaper, bottles, and aluminum cans, for your curbside or drop-off collection, examine local and state, regional, and even international markets for materials.

Do you have a polystyrene end user nearby or an oil filter recycler? Consider incorporating a wider range of plastics into curbside collection and other materials that sometimes get excluded, such as corrugated cardboard.

Your recycling program is unique to your community and recycling markets fluctuate. Shop now! Earn bonus points and prizes! View current contests and promotions. What is TerraCycle? Get started by using the search bar above and tell us what you want to recycle.

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