SWANA releases report addressing recycling program’s effects on contamination

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, recently released a report presenting the cost-effectiveness of educational programs designed to improve recycling behaviors. Titled “Encouraging Better Curbside Recycling Behaviors,” the report was released by the SWANA Applied Research Foundation (ARF) and is free to SWANA members. 

“As local governments and others assess how to improve their recycling programs and reduce contamination, this new ARF report will be invaluable,” says David Biderman, SWANA executive director and CEO. “Reducing contamination is a key objective of EPA’s National Recycling Strategy, and this report provides useful guidance. SWANA will be working closely with EPA and other recycling stakeholders to implement the Strategy using some of the lessons learned from this report.”

The report includes summaries and reviews of recycling strategies recommended by The Recycling Partnership to help reduce curbside recycling contamination. These strategies are cart inspection and tagging, contaminated cart rejection, direct mailing, general advertising and social media outreach. 

The report also examines communities in Snohomish County, Washington; Mecklenberg, North Carolina; and Napa, California, to study the effectiveness of each strategy when applied. 

“We are proud to be able to provide this valuable and timely report to all SWANA members,” says Jeremy O’Brien, SWANA’s director of applied research. “SWANA would like to recognize and thank the organizations that comprise the ARF’s sustainable materials management research group that identified and voted on this topic as well as supported and assisted in the research.”

This report is being published as a companion to a report published in 2021 called “Reducing Contamination in Curbside Recycling Programs,” which addressed curbside recycling contamination.

The full report, “Encouraging Better Curbside Recycling Behaviors,” is available to SWANA ARF subscribers and SWANA members. To download the report, click here.