What Can You Do To Help Recycling Efforts In The Community?

Are you the type of person that goes out of their way to recycle as often as possible? If that’s the case, you’re in good company! “What can we do to help recycling?” is a question that gets asked a lot in our meetings. CleanRiver has been providing commercial recycling solutions and recycling programs for over 30 years in multiple communities and businesses. We understand the importance of recycling just as much as you do. We also understand that you may feel that your recycling efforts are outweighed by your neighbours’ negligence. If you think your community doesn’t seem to care about recycling, you can change that with this guide. Maybe even the worst litterbugs can become more environmentally friendly with your help. Non-recyclers are a great place to focus your efforts. [caption id="attachment_9897" align="alignnone" width="600"]

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How Does Recycling Help The Community?

For the readers that may not be as enthusiastic about recycling solutions asking “why should we recycle?” Feel free to click the following link to learn how recycling helps the environment. For those of you who are already big on green recycling that need leverage; recycling promotes a healthy community. A community’s commitment to a clean environment almost always reflects its commitment to a higher quality of living. Local governments and its citizens can benefit from community recycling solutions in the following ways:

Sustainable industry jobs
Decreased air pollution
Minimized landfill usage
& more

If higher-paying job creation via companies that reprocess recyclables or reuse materials in their products isn’t enough to convince your community to recycle, cleaner outdoor spaces surely will. But for good measure, we’ve got a couple options to try if those reasons don’t work:

How To Encourage Recycling

1. Add Commercial Recycling Bins to Public Areas

The easiest way to encourage recycling... is to make it easy! Most people who litter do so because they’re inconvenienced by the need to carry their waste with them for long periods of time. If there are more places to dispose of waste, then the would-be litterbugs are more likely to throw out their trash and recyclables into the proper receptacles. (We’re not just saying that because we sell commercial recycling bins.) Check out your local curbside recycling program first. You might be able to get additional outdoor recycling bins for your neighbours at no extra cost. Bonus points if those commercial recycling bins have a stream for compost.

2. Educate Your Community About Recycling and its Benefits

This might sound like a big task, especially if you don’t like teaching. If that’s the case something as simple as sharing our ultimate guide to recycling programs blog archive with a neighbourhood facebook group, or local email list would suffice. If you want to be extra convincing, handing out flyers or talking amongst your neighbours about recycling habits will do a lot more than you think to help. A good way to start that conversation might be to ask them if they think styrofoam is recyclable or not.

3. Work With Your Local Government

Take advantage of community newsletters that your municipality sends out to residents and business owners every so often. Write about the best items to recycle, explain the benefits of commercial recycling bins in public spaces, outline your local recycling program, etc. If you’re feeling creative, another great way to get people more involved is through endorsements (celebrity, company, etc.) or with celebrations. The more your community recycles, the bigger the party!

4. Set Recycling Goals

People do better when they have a clear end goal to strive for. This can be done at a household level within your family, or it can be expanded. Does a recycling rate tournament sound exciting? No? Prizes will definitely motivate more people if there’s cash/food incentives involved!

5. Create a Recycling Team

You’ve heard of book clubs, but what about a recycling club? You’re definitely not the only one in your neighborhood that wants to improve recycling efforts in their community. Getting together with people who share your same enthusiasm for recycling and repurposing can be a fun way to make new friends. You could host clothing drives, trash pickup days, and other activities like any of these recycling projects for kids. Don’t be afraid to get creative! Remember, these ideas are just something to help get you started. You don’t have to limit your options. CleanRiver is always trying to find new ways to encourage communities to recycle, join us in our mission to make the world a cleaner place!

Looking for more green recycling tips? Check out these other blogs:

CleanRiver Recycling provides a variety of innovative, flexible, and customizable recycling solutions. To determine the right solution to meet your needs, use the CleanRiver product selector. If you have additional questions that weren’t answered in this blog post please call us at 1-866-479-4038 or email solutions@cleanriver.com.