Degrees of Education

Although San José’s residents have proved to be environmentally sophisticated, the city has tried to leave nothing to chance when rolling out the Clean ’n Green program, especially since some diehard sorters might find it unseemly—perhaps even regressive—to place all of their recyclables in a single cart.

Last November, for America Recycles Day, an extensive trilingual multi-media campaign was launched to ensure that residents know of the program and its goals. Detailed brochures were mailed with bimonthly garbage bills and a Web site (www.sjrecycles.org) was developed to provide information on the program’s enhancements. In addition to the new recycling cart, these enhancements include increased street sweeping, the option of using a yard trimmings cart in lieu of loose-in-the-street collection, and a new 20-gallon garbage mini-cart option for super recyclers.

In mid-January, a brochure was mailed to all single-family households to inform them of the coming service enhancements. They were asked to mail back a card selecting their choices of recycling cart (96, 64, or 32 gallons) and whether they wanted an optional 20-gallon garbage cart or an optional yard cart. To promote the need to select their choices by February 25, the City produced an educational video that aired on the City’s cable television station as well as advertisements for radio and print media. Local media have begun covering the story in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Among the most effective public education tools were the nearly two-dozen community meetings, staffed by the Environmental Services Department and held in conjunction with each City Council district. The City received about 90,000 cards through mid-February (an estimated 48% return), and two-thirds chose the 96-gallon recycling cart. Because residents have been invited into the process and shown the practical and environmental benefits of the program, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

The biggest education challenge, however, lies with those who live in multi-family dwellings and use centralized bins for garbage and recycling instead of individual carts. “They typically don’t see the same direct financial incentive (as single-family households) to recycle since rents factor in monthly waste collection charges,” Brandon said. GreenTeam, which also serviced multi-family dwellings under the Recycle Plus program, has taken a multi-pronged approach to community outreach. “Educating managers, owners and maintenance people is essential to maximizing participation,” Brandon says. “If the people responsible for the complex actively support the recycling program, we have that much more reinforcement for the residents to participate.”