Prior to receiving EECBG funding, many residents in Dayton, Ohio were not participating in the city’s curbside recycling program. However, Recovery Act dollars enabled the City of Dayton to purchase 10,000 96-gallon recycling totes to be distributed in some of the most diverse neighborhoods in Dayton. The goal? Raise recycling rates by 15% in the near term, and collect enough recyclable material monthly to completely eliminate disposal costs, in the long term. Disposing of recyclables already costs the city significantly less per ton than taking trash to the landfill.
And the results are in! According to a city press release, recycling is up 24% when comparing September 2010 to the previous September. How is Dayton achieving such a dramatic increase in recycling rates? Besides adding 10,000 new bins to city neighborhoods, Dayton has used EECBG and other grant funding, as well as city resources, to:
• Market the upgrades to the program
• Create educational materials like FAQs and fact sheets
• Provide educational programming in schools and in the community
• Develop a brand for the recycling program and recycling trucks
• Provide news and information on a dedicated recycling portion of the city’s website, and
• Accurately track collection trends using technology built into recycling bins.
TONS COLLECTED:
The City of Dayton collected 465 tons of recyclables in December 2010, with a goal of 1,000 tons a month!
The city is also developing an incentive program to encourage recycling among residents. Says Donna Winchester, the city’s sustainability coordinator, “We view recycling as one of the easiest and best things we can do for our environment because it creates jobs, saves energy, and saves money. Thank you ARRA for giving this boost!”
Tell us, what cool new programs has your community launched or significantly expanded thanks to funding from DOE? We’d love to hear about your success engaging your communities in projects that reduce costs, save energy and emissions, and create jobs. Please post in the comments section below!
Content for this blog post courtesy of Therese Dorau, Midwest Regional Coordinator, ICF International.