Recycling - how to get everyone to participate

[dalaigh lllama]

I know that recycling is being encouraged in many communities these days, with varying degrees of success. We've recently moved from a small community in Missouri to a small city in Kane County, Illinois, and the difference couldn't be more pronounced: tepid participation in Missouri to (as far as I can tell) almost total participation here. Why?

Here's the modus operandi for recycling in both places we've lived.

small town, Missouri:
Started about ten years ago with recycling bins to sort paper, plastic, glass, and cans, with special trucks to pick up. After a while, lack of community involvement changed this to folks sorting their own stuff and carting it off themselves to a central location and dumping it themselves. Human nature being what it is, hardly any recycling happens there.

Kane County, Illinois:
Everyone recycles here. I have yet to pass a home on trash day that doesn't have their recycling bin(s) out. Why? Because here you pay to have non-recyclable trash picked up, and recyclable trash is picked up for "free." Every trash day, one must place a pre-purchased trash tag (costing about $2.60 each) on each garbage can, while non-sorted recyclables are picked up at the same time. Thus, folks have a great inducement to recycle, because the more you recycle, the less other trash you have, the more you save.

Here's what gets picked up:

Recyclable Paper Products
Newspaper
Corrugated Cardboard
Must be flattened and cut in pieces no larger than 3’x3’. Large amounts should be bundled with string.
Junk Mail
Telephone Books
Magazines
Paper Grocery Bags
Chip Board
Product Packaging
Office Paper

Recyclable Rigid Products
Steel Cans
Tin Cans
Aluminum Cans
Aerosol Cans (empty)
Dry Cell Batteries
Glass Bottles and Jars
Juice Boxes
Used Motor Oil

Recyclable Plastic Products
Peanut butter jars, soft drink bottles
Milk jugs, laundry detergent jugs
Vegetable oil bottles, window cleaners
Dry cleaning bags, bread bags, six pack rings
Yogurt cups, shampoo bottles, margarine tubs
Catsup bottles, microwave serving ware
(plastics with 1 to 7 ratings in that little recycling triangle)

Anyway, I must say I'm very impressed with my new county. :)

BTW, this is my 1000 post; I wanted it to be something other than my usual "Those bastards!" or "Yeah!"

[glowing]

1. First... REDUCE, RE-USE, recycle....

Many people forget the first two. And the first don't work well in a consumer driven country.

[dalaigh lllama]

2. re-use works here, too

Our recycling service doesn't take plastic bags, but the local grocery store lets us return them there to be re-used. And of course, with plastic bag use, there's always this to remeber (one of my favorite bits from live earth day):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8OG4pi8MSQ

[robcon]

3. Motivating people to recycle is the only way.

Money is the best motivator - deposits for recycling beverage containers, as well as charging for non-recycled garbage.

The 'sorting' function HAS to be done at the primary source - it is often uneconomic to sort at the collection point for garbage. So we must offer incentives to sort early in the process.

[dalaigh lllama]

4. Money is the best motivator

Most people will do the right thing if they can save some money at the same time. ;)

[Tracer]

5. My town has a dual system .....

... you can pay for commercial pickup ($250/yr), or you can purchase a dump sticker ($125/year) and pay for $2 bags to take your trash to the dump/recycling center.

The recycling center (which takes paper, newspaper, plastic, glass, cardboard and metal) is free for everyone.

I was chatting with one of the employees at the center, and he said that the center is losing money because people from other towns come and recycle for free. He wanted to have a small charge instituted for recycling.

I thought that was a good idea ---- but he said that its been rejected by the town selectmen because they felt that people would stop recycling, if they had to pay to do it.

[dalaigh lllama]

6. Some questions

What's the incentive for folks to come from other towns to your recycling center? Do they have to pay for it where they live? I'm wondering because people coudn't be bothered to take their recyclables to the center where I lived in Missouri, and it was only about a mile away from anyone in town.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Hell, outside my apartment there is a recycling bin right next to

the building's dumpster, but people still just throw everying in the dumpster. It doesn't cost anything but a few seconds of their time to put the (very limited - white, green, brown glass, aluminum, glossy paper, plastic bottles) recycling in the bin, but they can't be bothered.

Infuriating.

[Snarkoleptic]

7. I wonder what the recycle rates are in Michigan?

They have a 5 to 10-cent deposit on every bottle or can.

[rosesaylavee]

9. And our area also has a great place to buy used/new building

materials that would otherwise get dumped. So far this group has saved over 200 tons of material in the past year. Pretty cool.

http://www.reuseitcenter.org

:toast: Congratulations on your 1000th post, DVJNU! Now we can all stop wondering if you are a freeper in disquise! :7

[dalaigh lllama]

10. thanks, rose!

Finally, a 1000 posts! And it only took two years! I believe this is hugh!1!1! seriesly!1!1! (oops, did I give myself away?);-)