June 2013

The Green Matters e-newsletter is designed to give you a quick glimpse of important sustainability initiatives happening around the metro Atlanta region and beyond. Whether it's the latest research, new educational offerings, environmental stewardship efforts, or potential funding opportunities, this e-newsletter will help you stay abreast of what's happening in this important subject area.

How San Jose Successfully Confronted Lagging Commercial Recycling

Last year San Jose, Calif., was looking at a goal of 100-percent waste diversion from landfills by 2022. But with a commercial recycling rate at the time of just 22 percent, city officials knew something had to give.

The biggest problem for the city was it had an open market system for commercial hauling, which resulted in 20-25 haulers operating in the city. “We were seeing a lot of trucks on the road and rates all over the map and a variety of services but very little incentive to actually recycle,” says Kerrie Romanow, director of the Department of Environmental Services, “because it was more work for the haulers and the rates wouldn’t go down (for the customers) if they recycled more, so it was just as easy to not recycle.”

The city of about 1 million people set about making some fundamental changes to its commercial recycling efforts. As a result, it saw that rate soar to nearly 70 percent by December, more than tripling the commercial recycling rate in just six months.

Measure #53 – Commercial
Recycling Program

The Green Communities certification program recognizes local governments who offer recycling services (pick-up and disposal) to commercial businesses through local operations or comprehensive contracts with solid waste or recycling contractors. If commercial recycling is offered by contractors, the local government is recognized if it has adopted a policy, ordinance or contract specifications to require contractors to offer curbside or other on-site recycling to all commercial business customers.

The city of Norcross, a certified Green Community at the Gold level, offers an excellent example of commercial recycling. In 1988, Norcross converted from a city operated solid waste collection system to a privately operated system. The city offers recycling collection to businesses using either a 95-gallon green cart (pictured above) or recycling dumpster, depending on volume.

Little Known Recycling Tips

Plastic bottle caps are usually recyclable along with the bottle. Check with your local solid waste & recycling office to be sure, but many recycling programs accept bottle caps, made from #5 and #2 plastics.
Many recycling programs don’t accept paper cups because of the waxy lining. Don’t forget to recycle the cardboard sleeve!
Plastic bag and film recycling doesn’t stop with grocery bags. Recycle your dry cleaning, newspaper, & bread bags and also the plastic film on products like paper towels. Visit Earth911 or use the handy IRecycle App to search for the nearest drop-off point. It is likely a grocery store or retailer you frequent already.
Can it! Metals are among the most valuable materials in the waste stream and almost all recyclers welcome aluminum and steel. So, recycle your cans.
Close the loop by buying recycled content material. Recycling is the first step in the cycle, then the material is processed, and the last step is up to you – Keep recycled content products in demand.

More recycling tips can be found at America Recycles.