Successful municipal recycling depends on more than providing collection bins. Cities and their waste-service partners can improve recycling by providing clear information about which materials are accepted, making collection services accessible and working to reduce contamination from items that do not belong in recycling containers. Local recycling programs must also reflect the actual processing options and markets available to the community.
A broader waste-management strategy can include services for materials that cannot be placed in standard curbside recycling, such as household hazardous waste, electronics and other specialized materials. Cities can also support composting and organic-waste programs, reuse initiatives and opportunities to recover materials before they are discarded. These approaches can reduce the amount of material sent to landfills while conserving resources.
Ultimately, recycling is only one part of sustainable materials management. The EPA's waste-management hierarchy places greater emphasis on source reduction and reuse, followed by recycling and composting. By combining recycling with waste prevention, reuse and organics recovery, cities can move beyond simply managing discarded materials and toward keeping resources in productive use for longer periods of time.