City of Roanoke, Virginia, gears up for single-stream recycling

The city of Roanoke, Virginia, has announced plans to offer single stream recycling for residents. Starting in October, residents will be able to throw recyclables together in the same cart, and the recyclables will be collected every other week. The city has previously offered dual-stream recycling.

Residents were to receive new lidded recycling roll carts in August.

“We are excited about offering single stream recycling to city residents,” says Solid Waste Manager Skip Decker.

Decker and his staff have been working on a plan for several years to acquire new carts and identify a local vendor to offer single stream recycling. “This new service is a great opportunity to increase recycling numbers while offering a more convenient way to recycle.”

The carts are paid for by the city’s recycling vendor, Recycling Disposal Solutions (RDS), with offices in Roanoke and Portsmouth, Virginia. RDS also has opened a new material recovery facility in Roanoke to accommodate the anticipated increase in volume.

Consumer education and outreach materials for the program have been funded by a grant from The Recycling Partnership.