Recycling Pilot Shows Promise in CT

The Mayor of Hartford, CT recently announced promising early results of its single-stream recycling pilot program “Go Green Use Blue.” 

As part of the program, approximately 4,500 households were converted to single-stream and provided 64-gallon carts to replace existing 14- and 18-gallon bins. In addition, households were given the opportunity to establish accounts with recycling rewards program, RecycleBank, to receive reward points for each pound of materials placed in the cart. Points can be used to redeem goods and services at a number of local retail stores.  The City and RecycleBank also provided an extensive, coordinated campaign to educate households about the program.

“This program has been an unexpected bonus with the downturn of the economy, said Mayor Perez.  “It not only provides a financial incentive for families, but an economic boost for our local businesses.

”The Hartford Recycling Pilot is a partnership between the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) and the City to demonstrate the effectiveness of best recycling management practices.  To read more, click here.

California Recycling Rate Rises

According to the California Department of Conservation’s (Sacramento) most recent Biannual Report of Beverage Container Sales, Returns, Redemption, and Recycling Rates, the Golden State’s beverage-container recycling rate for the six-month period ending June 2008 rose four percentage points to 76 percent. 

Including all materials and taking into account all containers collected via municipal curbside programs, Californians recycled over 7.5 billion beverage containers between January and June 2008, an increase of nearly 600 million beverage containers when compared to the same period in 2007. According to DOC statistics, California continues to lead the nation in total quantity of bottles and cans recycled. 

HDPE-based containers, at 90 percent, generated the highest recycling rate for all containers collected under the program. Aluminum products were the second highest at 85 percent, with glass (79 percent), PET (63 percent) and PVC containers (19 percent) rounding out the top five. Other notable recycling rates included bi-metal containers at 14 percent, No. 7-labeled “other” plastics at four percent and PS-based containers at one percent. 

Presently, 4,000 redemption sites are located throughout the Golden State for collection of California Redemption Value beverage containers.

Bottle Deposit Fraud

Bottle deposit fraud is not a new issue, but it’s nice to see publications like Beverage World address it head on.  To read the recent article, click here.

And to borrow from a popular NYC anti-terrorism tag line, “If you see something (or suspect something), say something. Help us battle bottle deposit fraud.

Worth the Read

We came across this nice article in Popular Mechanics the other day.  It debunks 5 recycling myths.

To review, click here.

Did You Know…

• Consumers prefer to return empty containers to recycling machines at convenient locations. For example:

• 20% of consumers returning empties in grocery stores would prefer to return at convenience stores and gas stations if they offered a recycling machine.
• 80% of shoppers at a gas station think it is extremely or very appropriate for the station to have a recycling machine.
• Consumers who return empties at grocery stores spend up to 52% more in a store.

• Worldwide, more than 800 billion beverage bottles and cans alone are manufactured and sold each year.

• Beverage containers alone account for up to 50% of the volume in a typical trash bin.

Welcome to Our Blog

Founded in 1972 and headquartered in Asker, Norway, TOMRA is a global leader in helping the world to recycle and reuse its valuable natural resources.

With operations in nearly 50 countries, TOMRA provides end-to-end recycling solutions including automated recycling machines for empty beverage containers; pickup, transportation and processing services; and waste sorting and compaction equipment sales.

TOMRA started operations in North America in 1985 and today represents nearly 40% of total global revenue. TOMRA of North America is headquartered in Shelton, CT.