The Recycling Partnership adds additional partner cities

The Recycling Partnership, formally known as Curbside Value partnership, has selected three new cities as community partners. The three cities were selected through the 2015 Recycling Partnership Request for Proposals process and will receive funding to support the full transition to recycling roll carts and to implement an education campaign to support cart delivery. The cities also will receive technical assistance around education and operations, ensuring that when residents start to use their carts they are delivering quality materials to market.

The names of the cities will be announced when contracts are finalized, though The Recycling Partnership says one city is in the Southwest, one is in the upper Midwest and one in the Southeast.

Keefe Harrison, executive director of The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, says, “We are proud to keep up the quick pace while delivering technically sound resources and grant assistance. We look forward to working with this next round of excellent partners to dramatically improve their curbside residential recycling programs.”

The Recycling Partnership says its inaugural city partners are off to a great start in implementing their program changes. Florence, Alabama, recently completed cart distribution to all serviced households.  The impact of the carts, technical assistance and education campaign has been extremely positive, according to the organization.

Florence’s Manager of Solid Waste, Street and Recycle David Koonce says, “We knew that we needed carts because our material recovery facility (MRF) was hungry for materials; and the new carts are certainly delivering everything we had hoped they would. We began utilizing an automated truck to the route to keep up with the additional volume of material, and our MRF is packed. We are currently looking to increase efficiency and shifts to keep up with the increased supply. We aren't seeing a big increase in contamination thanks to upfront education and feedback at the curb.”

Richmond, Virginia, rolled out 6,000 carts in January and will complete the process before the end of the calendar year, while Columbia, South Carolina, will begin delivering carts later this summer, The Recycling Partnership says.

The Recycling Partnership is a 501(c)(3) organization designed to improve curbside recycling programs nationwide.