City of Roanoke switch to single stream recycling turning out to be a big hit

By Carolina Curiel (ScrapMonster Author)

December 07, 2015 02:23:23 AM

MONTGOMERY (Scrap Monster): City of Roanoke’s shift to single stream recycling effective July 1st this year has delivered good reviews during the initial five months of operation. According to Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority, there has been a significant increase in the collection of plastics, metals and other recyclables. In addition, contamination rates have gone down considerably.

During the initial four months of the new programme from July to October this year, the quantity of recyclables collected has increased by nearly 12% when compared with the corresponding period last year. Also, contamination rate has fallen sharply from around 3% last year to 0.94% so far this year. The total quantity of materials recycled since July 1 has crossed 600 tons, the authority noted. Meantime, the authority has reduced its full-time staff from 20 to 13, on account of reduction in manual sorting procedures.

The authority stated that not a single load has been rejected totally. Plastic bags are found to be most common contaminant so far, it noted.

The high recycling collection proves that the extensive marketing and education efforts carried out by the city have paid off. The Recycling Partnership had awarded $40,000 towards outreach and educational resources to create awareness among City residents of the new approach. Also, city’s Solid Waste Management Division had appointed a media agency to conduct high quality media campaign.

The City of Roanoke has introduced single-stream recycling service in partnership with Recycling and Disposal Solutions of Virginia (RDS). The recyclables collected are sent to RDS site where they are separated into useful metal categories.