Groups Combine to Boost OMG Recycling in Boston

The City of Boston launched a campaign with business and nonprofit partners to increase recycling of magazines and catalogs. This first-of-its-kind partnership includes the National Recycling Coalition, Time Inc., International Paper and recycling company FCR. The program, the partners note, creates a model for magazine and catalog recycling in cities across America.

Designed to inform residents that magazines and catalogs can easily be included with other paper recycling, the "Recycling Magazines is Excellent" campaign, or ReMix, will help divert magazines from landfills and provide an economic benefit for the city.

"Recycling improves the environmental and economic health of Boston," said Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino. "The city gets paid for recycling paper products. So, the more our residents participate, the more the city benefits. It's easy to recycle magazines and catalogs because we already accept both with our curbside recycling program. We are honored that the partnership has selected Boston for this program based on our comprehensive efforts to make recycling part of our everyday life."

Menino asked residents who are not already including magazines and catalogs in their paper recycling to begin by simply putting them with their other paper to be recycled.

IP and Time Inc. joined with the National Recycling Coalition to research major U.S. cities' recycling rates and infrastructures to determine the ideal location for the launch of the ReMix program.

The partnership members, along with recycling processor FCR, developed public service advertisements to encourage curbside recycling of magazines and catalogs. The ads, which appear in various magazines, including TIME and Sports Illustrated, specifically target Boston-area residents, thanks to Media Networks Inc., a marketer of local advertising in national magazines. Boston will continue to promote public awareness of magazine and catalog recycling through outreach activities to residents.

"FCR has been in the business of processing recyclables for more than 20 years, so we know the value of public education in making curbside recycling programs successful," said Jim Bohlig, president of Casella Waste Systems, Inc., the parent company of FCR. "We are excited about the ReMix campaign and its potential to increase magazine and catalog recovery. This groundbreaking partnership will add to Boston's already successful recycling program."

The partners will measure the recovery of magazines and catalogs throughout the region. The city will work to help residents take advantage of this convenient disposal of used reading material that can be recycled into newspapers or other paper products.

International Paper, the National Recycling Coalition and Time Inc. will showcase the ReMix program as a model for other U.S. cities and towns.

Mayor Thomas Menino made recycling one of his priorities when he first was elected. The city of Boston built its recycling program from a drop-off program in 1987 to a citywide, weekly curbside collection of 30 household materials in 1996, including large apartment and condominium buildings. Televisions and computers are also collected curbside.