North Carolina County Partners with CVP

North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County is the 24th community to partner with the Aluminum Can Council’s (ACC) Curbside Value Partnership (CVP).

Beginning in January 2007, four Mecklenburg County communities (including the city of Charlotte) will launch a countywide education program communicating the importance of curbside recycling that has the potential to reach more than 200,000 households.

“CVP will help us pool resources and collaborate in one cohesive and integrated campaign, enabling us to better engage members of the community in recycling. We look forward to seeing even more curbside bins lining the streets filled with recyclables,” Brandi Williams, public information officer for Charlotte’s Solid Waste Services, says.

Communities are invited to participate in the CVP by the Aluminum Association and the Can Manufacturer’s Institute as well as their funding members, including Alcoa, Anheiser-Busch Metal Container, ARCO, Ball, Novelis and REXAM. To become a CVP partner, a community must already have a strong and stable curbside recycling program in place. It must also have good data to measure recycling volume, value and commodity-mix before and after the campaign so the education program’s effectiveness can be measured. And lastly, they must be enthusiastic and passionate about improving participation rates.

Gary Wygant, director of recycling for Novelis Corp., says, “Few people realize the significant impact curbside recycling can have on the community and the environment. It is our goal to make the residents of Mecklenburg Co. aware of how important their individual contribution can be.” 

Plans for the specific campaign are still being finalized, but county and CVP representatives say they plan to rely heavily on education, public relations, grassroots outreach to underserved communities and direct marketing to specific homeowners who could participate, but choose not to for a variety of reasons, including not having a bin or not knowing what and when to recycle.

“This partnership is a wonderful opportunity for us to maximize our resources and work to make our already strong recycling programs even stronger,” says Laurette Hall, Environmental Manager-Waste Reduction for Mecklenburg County.

Created three years ago, the national CVP program is a research-based partnership with communities, haulers, material recovery facilities (MRFs) and other stakeholders to identify solutions to improve curbside recycling programs and address falling recycling rates. Current CVP partner communities include, but are not limited to, Arlington County, Va.; Brevard County, Fla.; Burlington County, N.J.; Denver; Kansas City, Mo.; Indian River, Fla.; Omaha; Orlando, Fla. and several counties in Pennsylvania. More information is available at www.RecycleCurbside.org.