North Battleford, Canada, adopts Recycle Coach app

North Battleford, Canada, will be the latest city to start using Recycle Coach, an educational app that reminds residents of pickup schedules and educates them about changes in recycling programs.

According to an article in battlefordsNOW, the city was previously using the Recollect app. The move will “save the city around $4,000 in annual subscription fees and provide more features to users.”

More than 3,000 municipalities use Recycle Coach to update residents on collection schedules, notifications and recycling changes.

“Ultimately, when it comes to recycling, a lot of people don’t realize how little they know,” Recycle Coach content specialist Tyler Munro says. “One in every three pounds of material that go in recycling are contaminants. People don’t even realize when you go from program to program everything is different. That creates a lot of confusion. Our reason for being is to simplify everything.”

With a vision to make recycling easier for people and municipalities amid a constantly changing recycling market, Creighton Hooper, president of Toronto-based company Municipal Media Inc., and his team created the app and has been growing its capabilities.

Of its features, Recycle Coach’s “What Goes Where?” search tool database, containing more than 10,000 common and uncommon items, and problem-reporting tool, which allows users to notify municipalities of illegal dumping, for example, are some of the perks of using the app beyond the overall goal to educate and reduce curbside contamination.

The focus on education was a key driver behind North Battleford’s desire to use the app, Tammy MacCormack, assistant director of utility services, told the news company.