The Recycling Partnership relaunches Recycle Right in Ohio community

The city of Akron, Ohio, recently announced the relaunch of its Recycle Right campaign, a communitywide initiative to improve the quality of recycling in curbside carts. The campaign aims to do this by providing residents personalized and real-time curbside recycling education and feedback.  

The campaign is part of the “Feet on the Street” program, which was developed by national nonprofit The Recycling Partnership. The program helps communities achieve economically efficient recycling programs, reduces the number of new resources used in packaging and improves the health of communities. The initiative begins June 7 and goes through the end of August. 

“The ‘Feet on the Street’ program works by giving residents instant feedback on what is and is not recyclable,” says Jill Martin, director of community programs at The Recycling Partnership, which is based in Falls Church, Virginia. “Through this personalized and real-time feedback loop, we are helping Akron capture more quality recyclables that are then transformed into new materials, creating a more circular economy, a less wasteful planet and stronger, healthier communities.”

The campaign involves an interactive program for Akron residents to improve education. Through routine cart inspections, residents who have contaminants (nonrecyclables) in their recycling carts will receive informational “Oops” tags on carts with direct feedback designed to improve recycling cart contents. Recycling carts with contaminants such as trash and other nonrecyclable items will not be emptied. Instead, residents will be allowed to correct the mistake and return the cart to the curb the following week. 

“Recycling is not only the right thing to do but also the smart thing to do,” says Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan. “Recycling properly not only saves taxpayer money by reducing the cost of dumping at the landfill but gives our residents the ability to participate directly in combatting climate change. We know our residents want to recycle the right way. This campaign is helping us create a more sustainable and effective recycling program.”

Before the city began the Recycle Right campaign in 2019, the contamination rate of Akron’s recyclables was 39.3 percent, which cost the city $205,031 in contamination costs. Earlier Recycle Right programs helped drop rates down to 26.3 percent, bringing contamination cost down $38,038 in 2020. 

According to a news release from the city, a recent audit showed the continued success of this program, showing that its contamination rate for recycling is now at 21.6 percent, meaning it has nearly cut the contamination rate in half. This year, officials hope to further improve the contamination rate with a goal of 15 percent or less.

The campaign is being done in partnership with Keep Akron Beautiful, ReWorks and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

"The Recycle Right Campaign is intended to increase the number of quality recyclables in our recycling stream," says Keep Akron Beautiful CEO Jacqui Ricchiuti. "The high-quality recyclables we want to see are paper, cardboard, cartons, metal food and beverage cans, and plastic bottles and jugs. The cleaner our recycling stream, the more sustainable the program will be."

To help take any guesswork out of what can or cannot be recycled, residents can use a free app called Akron Recycles. The app searches any item to find out if it belongs in the trash, recycling or on the curb. The app also provides customized alerts and reminders regarding curbside pickup. It is available to download for free on Apple or Android devices.