2006 Municipal Recycling Supplement: Opportunity Knocks

What is the best way to slow declining recycling rates? How can we motivate apathetic consumers to recycle?

There are probably dozens of different responses to these questions. Anyone who attended this year’s NRC Congress in Atlanta will agree that the recycling community is united in its desire to improve participation in recycling programs. However there is disagreement on the best way to actually accomplish this goal.

Is single-stream recycling the solution? Will re-branding recycling do the trick? Does mandatory recycling or pay-as-you-throw work? What about focusing on recycling on-the-go?

The real answer is all of the above can and do work—some of the time, in certain communities.

Sadly, there is no cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all solution. As we all know, recycling is complicated. If it was easy, we’d already have 100 percent participation rates.

I’ve been involved with recycling for many years and have seen, heard or tried every trick in the book to get consumers to be more diligent in their recycling practices. The solution, I believe, is to focus on residential curbside recycling programs. Here is where we can make the most progress among the most communities. Curbside programs are the proverbial "low hanging fruit."

But don’t just take my word for it:

So, my answer to question No. 1 is to go where the biggest opportunity is (at the curbside) and fix it there first. Then you can tackle some of the other concerns.

Three years ago the aluminum industry joined forces as the Aluminum Can Council (ACC) to do just this. With funding from Alcoa, Anheuser-Busch Metal Container, ARCO, Ball, Novelis and REXAM, the ACC has been able to study the need that exists among municipal officials and other stakeholders, to create tools and partnerships to address those needs and most importantly, to ground all activities in measurable data so that best practices and lessons learned can be shared credibly.

Recognizing this, the Curbside Value Partnership (CVP) was formed. Significant resources have been dedicated by the aluminum industry to make the CVP a success and to recruit as many communities as possible into the program.

To date, nearly 30 communities are working with CVP as partners. Hundreds of others benefit by utilizing its free templates and tools online (www.recyclecurbside.org), reading about best practices and lessons learned in the organization’s free quarterly newsletter "Bin Buzz" or hearing about it through the media or at national, state and local conferences.

Finding No. 1 — Focus on growing participation. There is a disconnect between how much people say they recycle and how much they actually do. A recent study conducted by the city of Charlotte, N.C., for example, found that 74 percent of homeowners say they participate every week, but a set-out study revealed that only 43 percent of them had bins on the curb.

By adding new participants to your program, you are exponentially increasing the amount of recyclables collected.

While it would be nice to launch a specific campaign geared at getting residents to recycle their phone books, for example, you are missing the bigger opportunity of growing your full program. Focus on the bigger opportunity first, then get specific with population groups or individual commodities.

Finding No. 2 — It’s all about the bin! This finding really echoes of finding No. 1.

More participation equals more bins, which equals more recycling.

One of the most effective ways to increase participation in your program immediately is to get more bins or carts on the curb. Do whatever you need to do. Hold bin drives. Give them away free. Deliver them upon request. Just do it—today.

Finding No. 3 — Budget for education. You have to promote a program effectively in order to sustain participation. Don’t assume that because your homeowners three years ago knew about how to get a bin and what to put in the bin, they still know.

Despite the perception that marketing can be costly, it doesn’t have to be. You simply need to spend what money you do have more wisely. Here are some examples of cost-cutting communications options:

Finding No. 4 — Make it simple and easy. I asked the question earlier about the best way to motivate an apathetic public to recycle. Well, here is one simple answer: Don’t over think it. My team and I regularly get calls from recycling coordinators asking me what message or tool will get their residents to recycle more. My answer to them is: "Anything." Residents just want to be reminded. Overwhelmingly consumers have told us that simply being told, first, how to get a bin and, second, what to put in it are the two biggest motivators to getting them to participate.

You can spin your wheels all day trying to come up with the "perfect" message, logo or tag line to motivate residents to recycle. The majority of residents don’t need to be "marketed to"—they just want the facts and they want them on an ongoing basis. Make it easy to get a bin and easy to understand what can and cannot be recycled…and your residents will follow.

We have studied curbside programs all across the country and have found those that are most effective (i.e. those with higher per capita recycling) have the following attributes in common:

Finding No. 5 — Value in the bin is an untapped opportunity. Curbside programs need to sustain themselves if we have any hope of increasing national recycling rates and keeping them there. At a time when many programs are being scrutinized, it is critical that programs operate at maximum efficiency and with maximum revenue coming in from the commodities collected at the curb.

Looking only at tons diverted isn’t enough. Programs need to look at the value of the materials they collect, as well as the value of what’s not being captured. Some materials may boost tons, but are of limited value in terms of revenue.

In order to be successful, communities need to optimize the capture of the most valuable items to ensure that scrap revenue is maximized. Last year, Americans threw away $6.3 billion worth of recyclable materials. Of that, more than $4 billion was from just aluminum and fiber, the most valuable and recyclable materials in the average curbside recycling bin.

When all is said and done, the rubber hits the road at the community level. We, as an industry, can fund and study ways to improve, but it is up to you to take what we give you and put it to good use.