Following three months of recycling education provided at curbside for residents of South Portland’s Redbank Village, ecomaine and the City of South Portland are pleased to celebrate the culmination of the project, which saw recycling contamination rates drop substantially, from 90% to 25%, decreasing costs for the city and allowing more material to be properly marketed for recycling.
Throughout the summer and fall, residents’ recycling carts were inspected and given a tag – green for a job well done; yellow for a handful of items that do not belong in the recycling stream; and red for carts that contained too much trash to process as recycling. Carts with red tags would be left behind by Casella, the collector for South Portland’s recycling and trash.
“We’re very grateful for the enthusiasm we saw from Redbank Village’s residents,” said Matt Grondin, ecomaine’s Communications Manager. “We know that people want to recycle right, and we’re pleased to provide the tools for them to do just that.”
On November 20 from 11:00-1:00, ecomaine and the City will join with management and residents of Redbank Village to celebrate this success with (socially distant) giveaways, information, and thanks for residents’ participation in making the program effective.
“Seeing the levels of contamination decrease each week was very exciting – it was progress, right in front of our eyes, and proof that this kind of educational program really does work,” said Kathryn Oak, ecomaine’s Recycling Manager.