Municipal Partnerships Boost Recycling Rates

Officials in Rochester Hills, Michigan, a city of seventy thousand residents located on the northern outskirts of Detroit, have recently reported that the municipality’s waste recycling rate has increased more than four-fold over the past five years. Administrators for waste disposal and recycling services credit the significant gains to the city’s partnership with Recyclebank.

Rochester Hills is credited with being the first municipality in the Midwest to partner with Recyclebank which is based in New York. Since collaboration started in 2008, the city has experienced a three hundred twenty three percent increase in the total number of pounds recycled by city residents and businesses. Based on this rate of success, Recyclebank’s contract has been renewed by the city for another five years of service.

As a result of the partnership, Rochester Hills residents have increased their waste recycling levels to an average of six hundred and seventy pounds per household each year. Tjhe city’s diversion rate currently stands at twenty seven percent. Since April 2009, the overall amount of collected materials for recycling is nearly twenty two thousand tons. In terms of the overall cost saving experienced by residents, the total amount of money saved since January 2011 is close to two million dollars.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Spending money isn’t always a bad thing – especially if it can help you to make or save more money in the long term. If your town or business doesn’t have a comprehensive waste management and recycling program it might be worth investing in a collaborative partnership. Reducing waste and increasing recycling, re-use, and re-selling is a sure-fire way to avoid escalating landfill fees and preserve the quality of life for all who live and work in your community!