Hartford Recycling Pilot is Put To The Test

Hartford’s commitment to a new and greatly improved community recycling program began on-schedule and on-message with the City’s “Think Green-Go Blue” campaign. The pilot, with funding from the National Recycling Partnership (NRP) and the NRC, distributed almost 5,000 new carts and began employing two new collection vehicles in mid-May as planned when first announced by Mayor Eddie Perez on March 17. The City, in partnership with RecycleBank, is providing single-stream service to approximately 15% of its households in anticipation of a broader program in the future. Participating households also receive the benefit of the RecycleBank rewards program. Since the program was announced, scores of local retail and service providers have signed on as RecycleBank partners to ensure that Hartford citizens can take advantage of the nearly $400/yr benefits potentially available to households based on recycling volumes.

In cooperation with project partners, NRC is overseeing the documenting of the case study which will provide an evaluation tool to the City as it contemplates program expansion. The case study will also be available to all external interested parties, and may be particularly useful to those communities contemplating deployment of new, best management practices in response to underperforming programs. The first interim report on the Hartford Pilot performance is scheduled for late October, 2008, with a final report on the one-year pilot due next summer.

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National Recycling Partnership (NRP)

The National Recycling Partnership (NRP) is a coalition committed to improving recycling programs in the United States and reinvigorating recycling among consumers. Under the direction of the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), grocery, food and beverage producers and retailers are engaged in two major initiatives to maximize the potential of recycling programs nationwide.

National Consumer Outreach

National Recycling Coalition research shows that declining recycling rates are mainly due to consumer confusion. Inconsistent recycling messages and the misuse of recycling symbols and terminology have left consumers wondering about how—and what—they should recycle.

With the support of the National Recycling Partnership and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NRC is leading the effort to re-introduce recycling to Americans. In 2007, NRC will unveil simple, consumer-tested recycling iconography and messages for use in both the public and private sectors on products and in recycling communications. Bringing consistency to the use of recycling symbols and terminology across all sectors will increase consumer understanding of what product packaging is recyclable.

Following the launch of the iconography and messaging, NRC will execute a consumer outreach campaign to re-energize participation in our nation’s recycling programs. Through partnerships with major consumer product companies and retailers, NRC will roll out the campaign in print, broadcast, online and outdoor media, and through corporate partners’ advertising and outreach efforts.

Project Investments in Residential Programs

Click Here for Model Cities Program

With the bulk of recyclables being consumed in homes, underperforming curbside programs explain much of the weakness in recycling rates in recent years. Under the direction of the NRC, the National Recycling Partnership will invest in up to four cities in the United States to demonstrate the best practices in residential programs and show how recycling rates can be improved.

Residential Program Best Practices

Properly sized recycling setout containers for single or multi-stream programs with enough volume to hold accumulated recyclables between collection days
Unit-based refuse pricing or other financial incentive to recycle.
Simple, consistent recycling messages.
Inclusion of all high value recyclables in the collection mix.
Adequate education and promotion budgets.
Parallel service. Recycling collected on same day as waste.

Selection criteria includes:

Community Size
Geographic Location
Program Design
Technical Feasibility
Strong On-the-Ground Team

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