The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, opened up grant applications for the 2019 Residential Curbside Recycling Cart Grant program, offering more funding and flexibility for advancing cart-based curbside recycling in communities across the United States through financial and technical assistance. According to a news release from The Recycling Partnership, this request for proposals (RFP) offers communities the opportunity to apply for grant funding to convert bin or bag-based curbside recycling programs to carts or to implement new cart-based curbside recycling programs.
“Cart-based recycling collection is safer and more efficient,” says Rob Taylor, director of grants and community development at The Recycling Partnership. “Curbside recycling with carts costs communities less because of fewer workers’ compensation claims, lower insurance premiums and better route efficiencies, which translates to less fuel, maintenance and overhead for public recycling programs. In addition, residents can more easily fit all of their recyclables into one container, then simply roll those items to the curb—anything that makes it easier for residents to recycle means less trash in our landfills.”
More than 450,000 new carts have been introduced in the United States over the last four years as a result of The Recycling Partnership’s funding activities, the company reports in a news release. The partnership’s grant program has been substantially revised for 2019 with the intention of accommodating a wide variety of strategies for implementing cart-based recycling collection. With more flexibility, the partnership reports that it hopes to engage with more communities across the U.S. to advance residential recycling.
“Implementing curbside recycling with carts is an exciting, high-profile initiative that can have huge cost savings and requires a high degree of readiness and commitment on the part of an applicant community’s elected officials, community leadership and those involved with the community’s recycling program, including hauler(s) and materials recovery facilities (MRF),” says Cody Marshall, chief strategic engagement officer at The Recycling Partnership. “The more we recycle, the more we reduce pollution and conserve resources. It’s directly connected to greenhouse gas, water, and energy savings. The approximately 450,000 carts we have deployed over the past four years equates to 170,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions (carbon dioxide) avoided.”
2019 program requirements and details
The Recycling Partnership made three updates to its curbside cart RFP: no minimum community size requirement; funding is available for a full-cart distribution is increasing from $7 per cart to $15 per cart; and there is more funding flexibility—if a community isn’t ready to roll carts out to every home, the partnership can provide funding for a variety of cart distribution approaches.
Previously, The Recycling Partnership required that grant applicants agree to automatically deliver recycling carts to every household within their jurisdiction. The partnership reports that the new grant program, however, allows communities to consider different implementation strategies—from providing every household a cart, to implementing in phases or even allowing citizens to opt-in or out of recycling service.
The various strategies are valued differently in terms of grant funding availability based on their effectiveness when it comes to encouraging recycling behavior to the largest number of residents and diverting recyclable materials from landfills on a community-wide scale.
“The Recycling Partnership is transforming recycling for good by making sure every American can recycle, and recycles all that they can,” says Keefe Harrison, CEO of The Recycling Partnership. “Our recent research shows that Americans value recycling and expect that products should be recyclable and that communities will provide curbside recycling pickup.”
The partnership intends to award funding for Residential Curbside Recycling Cart Grants on a rolling basis, according to a Recycling Partnership news release.