Jacksonville’s newest recycling education initiative has potentially helped lower the amount of waste in recyclable materials by 22% , a recent audit found. If the trend sticks or further lowers in the next few months, the city will save money on its recycling contract. Workers have gone to each Jacksonville neighborhood since May, tagging recycling bins using an “oops” tag to show residents what could not be recycled and would ultimately be taken to the landfill. The resulting “contamination” reduction shows the program has so far been successful, but there is still work left to do, city officials said.
“How can we make sure this continues?” City Council President Ron Salem asked. “And how can we get more people? I mean, if you got a truck going down a street, picking up recycling bins, it’s pretty doggone easy to pick up a couple of extra ones if they’re appropriately recycling, so to get more people to recycle, hopefully things like this will do that.”
The city invested in green waste management programs this year, namely the “Feet on the Street” recycling initiative and a composting pilot for restaurants, in an attempt to take stress off the local landfill. Now, the city will consider how to make the initiatives sustainable in the new year. Salem proposed both programs after taking the ideas from the special committee on waste management he chaired last year. The committee had several goals, including to increase the lifespan of the local landfill.