Kentucky’s largest city, Louisville, is getting ready to launch an innovative new “wet-dry” waste recycling test program for commercial residents in its central business district. The program’s developers expect that it could help to recycle as much as ninety percent of the waste materials that are generated in the area.

The program is expected to begin in Spring of 2014 for both residential owners and tenants as well as businesses operating in the district. Restaurants and other food-producing businesses will be provided with the two types of recycling carts – orange and brown. For these businesses, collection will take place between two and six times per week. Participants will be asked to separate liquids, food scraps and organic matter, dirty tissues and paper towels into a distinct brown recycling bin classified as “wet waste.” All “dry waste” which would be comprised of newspapers, cardboard, plastics, metals, and glass will be separated into one orange colored recycling bin.

Other businesses will use only the orange dry waste container and are encouraged to collect food waste and organic matter in black garbage bags for collection.

All collected organic waste, from both bins and bags, will be transported to a composting facility.

Currently, the Louisville area only diverts eleven percent of its municipal solid waste collected from the business district. City officials are hoping their innovative new program will increase those numbers before the end of the year.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: What is your business, office, or town trying to do to reduce the amount of garbage that needs to be sent to landfills? If you’re looking to save money on disposal costs, increasing recycling and re-use of materials is the place to start!