Report Cards Educate Lewis County, WA Curbside Recycling Customers

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): Recycling waste has a positive impact on the environment and saves limited landfill space. Lewis County Solid Waste Utility’s recycling program recently surveyed what citizens are placing in their recycling containers. Twenty-thousand Lewis County households that subscribe to curbside recycling service had their carts inspected and tagged with educational information. The tags detailed what items are included in the county recycling program as well as common mistakes customers make, such as including plastic bakery boxes, plastic wrap or plastic grocery bags in recycling bins.

“Customers can carry items to their recycling container in a plastic bag, but the contents should be emptied into the container,” according to county Recycling Coordinator Melanie Case. “The plastic bag can be reused or tossed in the trash. They can’t be recycled in the curbside program.”

Case said the educational cart-tagging survey reduced the amount of trash being placed in recycling containers by 19 percent. “Part of the project also introduced curbside recycling in more than 250 apartments and helped improve the quality of recycling at those sites by 55 percent,” Case added.

Residents were given a reusable tote where they could store their recyclables inside their homes. When full, they could carry the tote out to the complex’s larger recycling container. Printed material on the totes reminded residents about materials they could include in the recycling container.

The Lewis County Commissioners have expanded the option of curbside recycling. The program will soon be available to residents east of Morton.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantage.com