Ohio city resumes cart contamination checks

In partnership with Keep Akron Beautiful, the city of Akron, Ohio, will deploy trained personnel to make curbside recycling bin checks this summer, starting this week, Akron Beacon Journal reports.

As part of the city’s Recycle Right campaign, specially trained personnel will place “oops” tags on carts containing contaminants, or nonrecyclable items. The tags will have direct feedback designed to improve recycling cart contents, the city says.

Carts with contaminated items will not be emptied, and residents will be given the opportunity to correct their errors and return the cart to the curb the following week.

“Each year, this campaign helps educate our residents on what items belong in their recycling carts, and it’s helping us keep our program sustainable for our city and our environment,” says Akron Mayor Shammas Malik in a news release.

The contamination rate of Akron’s recyclables was nearly 40 percent in 2019, leading to the creation of the Recycle Right campaign, the Journal reports. The high contamination rate led to more than $200,000 in contamination costs and put the city’s recycling program in jeopardy, officials said.

RELATED: How the city of Akron's cart tagging program helped cut contamination

In 2023, the city of Akron implemented a glass drop-off program that allowed residents to recycle glass in a way that wouldn’t contaminate curbside recycling. Eighty tons of glass were collected during the first year.

In 2024, recycling audits confirmed the city’s contamination rate had fallen to about 12 percent.

“The cleaner our recycling stream, the more sustainable the program will be,” Keep Akron Beautiful CEO Jacqui Ricchiuti says in a news release. “We’re so excited by our low contamination rate and we want to keep the Recycle Right program as a shining example nationwide about how these types of educational campaigns can work to create real, sustainable change in communities like Akron.”