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Partnership Powers Progress: June Impact Report 2019

  Check out our June 2019 Impact Report and learn about the $73 million in value we have delivered to transform recycling for good. See how we are working together with communities, our funding partners, and the industry to drive change coast to coast and create a stronger economy, healthier p[...]

Download Our 2016 Annual Report

Our 2016 Annual Report highlights real-time benefits of the transformative organization’s work, focusing on year-on- year growth, systems solutions across the supply chain, and the multiplier effect that intelligently-deployed new infrastructure delivers. “Day to day, we’re always looking fo[...]

Regional Recycling Impact Workshop

The Recycling Partnership and NERC present the 2019 Regional Recycling Impact Workshop Harness the power of your program through tools for fighting contamination, education and outreach, and harmonizing your message to create a stronger recycling system throughout the 11-state region.   The North[...]

The Recycling Partnership Announces First-Ever U.S. Circular Economy Roadmap

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New “Bridge to Circularity” Report Calls for $500 Million by 2025 to Transform the U.S. Recycling System Report Emphasizes Need for Creating New Pathways to Recyclability, Unlocking Post-Consumer Material Supply, and Crafting Bold, Transformative Policies Supported by Cut[...]

Expediting Circularity through U.S. Plastics Pact

Plastic pollution is a global crisis. To confront this emergency in the U.S., industry leaders recognized that individual action would not be enough; transformative, systemwide change is required to establish a path toward a circular economy for plastic. Founded as a solutions-driven consortium by T[...]

Improving MRF Infrastructure to Increase Can Capture

Aluminum cans are among the most widely accepted packages for recycling. Within the packaging industry, they have leading recycled content rates and are consistently among the most valuable materials by weight in the recycling stream. However, according to Can Manufacturers Institute research, up to[...]

Empowering People to Recycle Right

If every home in the U.S. had convenient access to recycling, more than half of recyclable material would still be lost. Why? Because most Americans are confused about what and how to recycle. No recycling system performs at a high level without winning the hearts and minds of consumers to use it pr[...]

Download: State of Curbside Report

The 2016 State of Curbside Report is a snapshot of the performance of curbside recycling programs in a number of key communities across the U.S. Over 400 cities were profiled to understand key recycling program attributes and to evaluate their performance in recovering household recyclables at t[...]

MRFshed Report

How likely is it that neighboring communities using the same MRF are talking to their residents about recyclable materials in the same way? As this new report prepared by The Recycling Partnership highlights, not very likely. What are the chances that a community will have easy-to-find recycling i[...]

Big City Modernization in Baltimore

The Partnership’s unique model of bringing communities and funding partners together, creates meaningful opportunities to drive large scale change in big cities. Prior to the fall of 2021, Baltimore, Maryland, residents lacked a consistent solution for recycling access, making it difficult for the[...]

Closing the Equity Gap through the Recycling Inclusion Fund

Our research shows that recycling services disadvantage certain streets, neighborhoods, and housing types along socioeconomic lines. Nearly 40 million U.S. residents lack the same level of access to recycling as they have to garbage service. That access gap is even larger for residents of multifamil[...]

Driving Packaging Strategies with Plastic IQ

As U.S. companies seek to reduce waste, meet sustainability goals, and stay competitive, many are committing to ambitious packaging strategies designed to end plastic waste. But not all companies have data-driven resources to define these strategies. Plastic IQ is a free, digital strategy-building t[...]

Overcoming Recycling Challenges through Coalitions

When a package or material does not meet the criteria for recyclability (see page 23, Pathway to Circularity), companies are encouraged to take action. Coalitions can address the recycling challenges of today and consider solutions for the challenges of tomorrow. The Partnership currently leads thre[...]

Creating Clarity on the Pathway to Circularity

Navigating the recycling system has historically been challenging, in part because there are no widely accepted recyclability standards. Our Pathway to Circularity for Packaging, another example of collaboration to solve a complex challenge, was created to wash away the gray and bring necessary clar[...]

Scaling Statewide Transformation in Michigan

The state of Michigan established the goal of increasing statewide recycling from 14% in 2019 to 45% by 2030. To reach this target, the state increased funding for recycling support, leading to a multiyear collaboration between the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) [...]

Expanding Equitable Recycling Access in Orlando

When it comes to recycling access, multifamily communities are among the most underserved in the U.S. Members of the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) community are approximately twice as likely to live in multifamily housing as non-BIPOC community members. That’s why The Partnership [...]

Improving the Quality of Recyclables in Orange County

When it comes to capturing the different materials that enter the U.S. residential recycling system, it is as important for residents to know what cannot be recycled as it is to know what can be recycled. Excessive contamination can cause a host of problems once the material is collected. The curbsi[...]

Annual Report 2017

Check out what we’ve been up to this past year. Highlights of our 2017 Annual Report include: a breakdown of our three biggest city projects, updated metrics, and an impressive, ever-expanding list of our awesome funders who want to create healthier communities across the country through improved [...]

State of Curbside Report 2020

The 2020 State of Curbside Recycling report calls for these clear, integrated strategies: Substantially greater support of community recycling programs with capital funding, technical assistance, and efforts to strengthen and grow local political commitment to recycling services. New and enhanced s[...]

Scaling System Solutions for Action and Impact in the U.S. and Beyond

A “Do-ers” Reflection on Stockholm+50 & the United Nations Ocean Conference  by Keefe Harrison (she/her/hers) , CEO, The Recycling Partnership There is a palpable sense of urgency for environmental action. And it’s not just that we can feel it, we can see it.   The next generati[...]

Downloadable Report: Start at the Cart

To make truly informed decisions about improving a municipal program, local leaders would be wise to systematically analyze what is (and isn’t) ending up in recycling receptacles at the individual household level. Case studies from three cities help illustrate the method.

Blog: The EPA Needs to Take Action Now on Recycling

By Dylan de Thomas Vice President of External Affairs The Recycling Partnership For many Americans, recycling is second nature. It’s something that we can’t imagine living without. The ethos of “waste not, want not” runs deep in our collective conscience. We feel bad when we throw something [...]

National Sword: What is it and how will it impact my program?

This webinar, hosted by The Recycling Partnership’s VP of Industry Collaboration and resident National Sword expert Dylan de Thomas, gives a critical update on what China’s scrap ban and customs enforcement actions are and where it came from. It also covers the potential impact on markets, M[...]

Addressing the Challenge of Film and Flexible Packaging Data

Film and flexible packaging is unlike other packaging when it comes to recycling. For starters, it’s not a single packaging type – the term encompasses a wide range of packaging, from polyethylene (PE) air pillows protecting e-commerce goods to heavy-duty dog food bags, to salty snack bags with [...]

Guidance Issued on MRF Contracts for Local Governments

Best Management Practices report helps local recycling programs achieve long-term success Falls Church, Va. (June 24, 2020) – The contract between a local recycling program and a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) is one of the most impactful legal documents in the U.S. public recycling system. That[...]

Blog: Catalyzing System Change – Recycling Inclusion Fund

By Jessica Levine A mentor once asked me, “What is your wildest dream?” I told her I wanted to be a catalyst for change. I discovered my passion for environment and sustainability during my senior year of high school. Very quickly, I began to immerse myself in academic studies related to the fie[...]

Blog: Improving Recycling in Minnesota

Multifamily Recycling Success: How Minnesota Is Making a Difference From college dorms to apartment buildings, multifamily properties often pose unique challenges when it comes to recycling efforts. But four Minnesota communities are proving that education and outreach can have a significant impact [...]

It’s Official: Municipal Measurement Program Launched

(Falls Church, VA) On January 7, 2019, Re-TRAC Connect and The Recycling Partnership officially launched Municipal Measurement Program (MMP) to harmonize the measurement of material management programs and to provide municipalities with decision-making tools that can improve recycling program perfor[...]

2017 Literature Review of Environmental Research

Once a program has successfully motivated behavior change, the question becomes, will the new behavior stick? If not, how long will it last before the program should reach out again? This is a challenging question to answer, as few programs do long-term evaluations, and ultimately, it is dependent o[...]

Blog: Accelerate Recycling through Policy and Partnership

By Keefe Harrison, CEO Partnership is part of our name for a reason. From the start, The Recycling Partnership has believed that public-private partnerships are critical to our mission—and to our mutual success in building a resilient and responsive recycling system.  This approach is at the hear[...]

It’s Time to Come to our System Senses 

I just hopped off the stage at Circularity ’22 and a few things stand out to me about this national drive to improve recycling and launch a circular economy.  Clearly people are frustrated that recycling hasn’t fixed the waste problem yet.  But before we jump to recycling’s failings, let’[...]

Webinar: A COVID-19 Industry Update from The Recycling Partnership

On Wednesday, May 27, The Recycling Partnership hosted a follow-up webinar with industry experts to answer the important question: What are on-the-ground impacts of the COVID-19 health crisis on recycling operations and workers? The supply chain and solid waste have both been deemed essential work i[...]

Tackling Contamination – Say What You Want

By Elizabeth Schussler, Sr Dir Social Change, Behavior and Impact Trying to fight contamination in your local recycling program? Ask specifically for what you want (or don’t want). Our research shows that much of contamination can be solved by telling residents exactly how to recycle properly. (Wa[...]

BLOG: What Helps People Better Understand Recycling Instructions?

Know What to Throw When educating around what goes in – or doesn’t go in a recycling cart – messaging space is limited and attention spans are short. The Recycling Partnership recently set out to identify best practices for signage and mailers to help determine how to communicate the most effe[...]

Niagara Bottling Joins The Recycling Partnership

Niagara Bottling, a driving force in packaging innovation joins The Recycling Partnership to help the rapidly growing nonprofit transform recycling in states, cities and communities across the country. By supporting The Recycling Partnership’s recycling solutions, Niagara Bottling along with 38 [...]

Harmonized Recycling

by Jill Martin, Recycling Today Simplified communication decreases contamination and confusion among residents while increasing the capture rate for curbside recyclables. Imagine trying to take a train, subway or bus system across a city where the signage, names and colors of the routes are inconsis[...]

Article: Setting Up A Systems Solution

This article, co-written by The Recycling Partnership’s VP of Industry Collaboration Dylan de Thomas and Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s Senior Manager Trina Matta, was originally published in Resource Recycling on June 29, 2017. Late last year, The Recycling Partnership and Sustainabl[...]

Download Our MRF Tracking Form

This form is a tool to facilitate feedback on material quality and to create that needed dialogue between a Material Recovery Facility and its communities. Feedback on each load as a standard operating procedure will help isolate problem areas for better targeting, and track progress in fighting con[...]

Changing the Path Forward for Plastic

This article first appeared in GreenBiz By Juan Villar Mallagray & Samu Salo & Li Tu In response to the crisis, consumers and government regulators are putting pressure on companies to change the way they do business. Consumers want brands to use sustainable materials and some are willi[...]

Download: Top 10 Recycling Myths

The Partnership tackles the Top 10 Myths of Recycling in this informative, downloadable, free infographic. This guide serves as a catch-all to debunk some pervasive, overarching myths about recycling that apply households all across America.

Jason Hale: “How We’re Fixing a Broken System”

This article, written by The Recycling Partnership’s former VP of Communications and recycling legend Jason Hale, was originally published by Sustainable Brands. The Recycling Partnership: How We’re Fixing a Broken System This is the third in a three-part series from The Recycling Partn[...]

Op-ed: “Global Solutions, Local Scale”

Global Solutions, Local Scale: Recycling Efforts Show Promising Path for Climate Action This op-ed written by Partnership CEO Keefe Harrison was originally published by CityFix on Aug. 10, 2017.  Now that cities can no longer rely on the U.S. federal government to take serious action on the global [...]

Coca-Cola promised to help fix recycling. Here’s how it plans to deliver

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN Business Atlanta (CNN Business) – Early last year, Coca-Cola set an ambitious goal for itself: Collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can it sells by 2030. The company has committed to making its bottles and cans out of at least 50% recycled materi[...]

What Business Wants

This article originally appeared in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Companies want to be seen as doing good for their community and the world. Charities can help — and benefit. By Megan O’Neil Keefe Harrison aspired to a life as a field biologist. In her late teens and 20s, she tagged sea turtles[...]

Waste360: Corporations to Revitalize Plastics Market

The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) has a new plan to increase demand for recyclable plastics in North America, and with help from The Recycling Partnership, it is calling upon manufacturers and retailers to make it work. Companies joining the Recycle Demand Champions initiativewill instruct[...]

The 2017 Costs of Contamination MRF Working Group Survey

In mid-2017, The Recycling Partnership surveyed its MRF Working Group to identify top contaminants and their impact at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) level. In gathering data using a matrix [Appendix 1], the surveyed group members provided detail on Labor; Facility Down Time; Disposal; Equipm[...]

Blog: A Corporate Perspective Turned Inside Out

Featuring Sarah Dearman and Steph Kersten-Johnston We’ve recently welcomed two new staff members who have joined us from the corporate world: Sarah Dearman, formerly Sustainable Packaging Program Director at Coca-Cola North America, is now our new VP of New Ventures; Steph Kersten-Johnston, forme[...]

Start at the Cart

This article originally appeared in the March 2018 issue of Resource Recycling magazine. by Cody Marshall and McKenna Morrigan How do you get people to recycle more? What does it take to reduce contamination? How much more high-value recyclable material can be captured through curbside programs? Now[...]

Can Recycling Bounce Back?

This article originally appeared on CityLab.com. NICOLE JAVORSKY Times have been hard for U.S. recycling since China tightened its contamination standards, and local programs are trying to adjust. “This facility is our version of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” That’s how Eileen Ka[...]

WWF Champions Sustainable Materials Management

This press release was originally published by the World Wildlife Fund on June 12, 2017. World Wildlife Fund Convenes Organizations to Enable A Global Market For Sustainable Materials Management World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today announced the Cascading Materials Vision, a platform that seeks to enabl[...]

The Recycling Partnership Teams Up With City of Chicago to Improve Recycling

This summer and through the fall, The Recycling Partnership, a national nonprofit that applies corporate partner funding to improve curbside recycling systems in cities and town across the country, will be working with Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) to improve recycling in th[...]

Op-ed: The Intersection of Profit and Purpose

The following op-ed was penned by Partnership CEO Keefe Harrison and published by The Philanthropy Journal on December 18, 2017. Read the original piece here. While society has historically relied on government and nonprofits to create solutions for our largest challenges like hunger, social injusti[...]

How to Use the GHG Calculator

by Tricia Tiedt What are we wasting for? See how much greenhouse gas (GHG) equivalents you could be saving with our newest interactive online tool. By inputting your community’s households, collection data, and participation rate, the GHG Calculator estimates the tonnage of recyclables and related[...]

Webinar: COVID-19 and its Effects on Recycling

On Tuesday, March 31, The Recycling Partnership hosted a webinar for cities, states and industry partners to provide timely and comprehensive information about the state of the recycling and solid waste industry during the times of COVID-19. We heard from the leading voices at our most trusted indus[...]

Case Study: A Look at Contamination Reduction in the State of Washington

A partnership that combined city, county, haulers, and their material recovery facility (MRF) to show the effectiveness of messaging at the curb in Spokane with amplified messaging throughout Spokane County. As with many recycling education programs, reducing contamination was the primary goal for a[...]

Blog: Plastic IQ – Advancing Company Decision-Making on Plastics

By Ben Dixon, Partner, SYSTEMIQ & Keefe Harrison, CEO, The Recycling Partnership The challenge of plastic waste is too big to ignore and too difficult to solve alone. Good work to collectively reduce the use of virgin plastic and build recycling solutions for more types of plastics is underway. [...]

Press Release: 2017 RRC Grants Announced

Industry Collaboration Delivers More Than $80,000 For Recycling Education Grants Today, The Recycling Partnership announced the recipients of its Steve Thompson Memorial Education Grants program to bring more than 50 recycling professionals from across the U.S. to Minneapolis for the 2017 Resource R[...]

Bridge to Circularity

It’s time to develop a circular economy for packaging in the U.S. We’re launching several new initiatives to start building the Bridge to Circularity, including Recycling 2.0 – an opportunity for all stakeholders to collaborate to develop the recycling system of the future.

China’s ban on scrap imports a boon to US recycling plants

This story originally appeared in The Washington Post By Mary Esch | AP May 18 ALBANY, N.Y. — The halt on China’s imports of wastepaper and plastic that has disrupted U.S. recycling programs has also spurred investment in American plants that process recyclables. U.S. paper mills are expan[...]

A Tribute to Steve Thompson a True Leader

We are saddened to report Steve Thompson died suddenly last week. Steve was a recycling champion, a mentor to many, a member of our family for more than a decade as Executive Director, and an intensely valued friend to the industry. Steve held a vision for improved recycling and his leadership, thro[...]

Americans Strongly Believe in Recycling

Congressional Webinar: Recycling 101 & Impacts of COVID-19 New survey data from The Recycling Partnership and SWNS confirms that 85% of Americans strongly believe in recycling. This is especially timely as we all navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on communities and recycling busines[...]

A $17B Investment in Recycling Will Leverage a System That Delivers Tons

By Keefe Harrison CEO, The Recycling Partnership It’s no secret that we at The Recycling Partnership like data. Our commitment to building and sharing robust analyses with the public and private sectors to drive recycling improvements is core to our mission. The release of our newest report is p[...]

Coastal Community Recycling Grant

We are not currently accepting applications for this grant program. Marine debris is a global crisis for our waterways and oceans and an imminent concern for communities and industries. By 2050, it is estimated that there will be more marine debris than fish in our ocean and 80 percent of marine deb[...]

Read Our Series in Sustainable Brands

This article, written by The Recycling Partnership’s VP of Industry Collaboration Dylan de Thomas, was originally published by Sustainable Brands. Half of a Half Equals a Whole Lot of Potential This is the first in a three-part series from The Recycling Partnership on collaborating to drive [...]

Meet Your Community’s Recycling Resolutions with These Tools & Resources

How are your new year’s resolutions coming? Regardless of where you are with cleaning out the garage, organizing those cabinets, or learning how to knit, there’s still time to help your community meet its recycling resolutions. Our free tools and resources can help you do just that: Personalize[...]

Article: “All the ways recycling is broken—and how to fix them”

This article was originally published by Fast Company on April 4, 2019. To read the original, click here. [Photo: Recycling Partnership] A nonprofit called the Recycling Partnership gives cities grants for supplies like recycling bins along with consulting to help expand recycling, funded by [...]

First-Ever Can Capture RFP Announced for MRFs in Southeastern U.S.

The Recycling Partnership Joins CMI as Grant Program Partner to Evaluate Proposals and Provide Technical Assistance for Projects that Target Missorted or Lost Cans at Recycling Centers in the Southeast FALLS CHURCH, Va (JAN. 26, 2021) – The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and The Recycling P[...]

Mayor Brown Launches “Let’s Do This Together!”

BUFFALO – Today, Mayor Byron W. Brown announced that the City of Buffalo, in partnership with The Recycling Partnership, will sponsor a Multi-Unit Apartment Building Recycling Initiative called “Let’s Do This Together!”. The six-month pilot initiative aims to initially increase recycling col[...]

Tips for Working Remotely – Our Team Members’ Tips, Hacks & Tricks

If you’re one of the many Americans who have recently found themselves working from home, you may be finding some difficulty adjusting to the new norm of social distancing from your in-home or makeshift office. With employees across more than 14 states, The Recycling Partnership is accustomed to r[...]

The Recycling Partnership Announces Results of Annual Board Election

FALLS CHURCH, VA (July 20, 2021) – The newly-elected Board Directors of The Recycling Partnership bring unmatched sustainability and industry knowledge, and business expertise to help lead The Partnership’s work to transform the U.S. recycling system and activate a circular economy for packaging[...]

City of Arvada Rolls out New Waste & Recycling Program

The City will begin rolling out new recycling carts for residents between June 7 and June 26 as it officially launches its residential waste and recycling collection service in early July 2021. The City of Arvada’s Waste and Recycling Program provides low cost recycling to residents who are partic[...]

Blog: Our future depends on our actions. So, what are we wasting for?

By The Recycling Partnership Team We live on a planet that is well known for having finite resources (and yes, some renewable ones, many of which we’re depleting at a rate that surpasses the rate of replacement).  If we keep buying things that are made out of these finite and depleting resources,[...]

Watch: “Recycling – Video Games”

Part of The Partnership’s “It’s All You” campaign for the City of Chicago, this video shows adults and kids alike how everyday recycling can make a big impact – like saving the world.

Blog: Start at the Cart™: Key Concepts for Influencing Behavior

Recycling is many things. It is both a noun and a verb. To a waste professional it may be the collection and diversion of tons of marketable materials. To community members, recycling is an easy way to waste less and to contribute to the greater good. When asked about recyclables, however, most mist[...]

Hale: “You’re Not in it Alone, So Why Go it Alone?”

This article, written by The Recycling Partnership’s former VP of Communications and recycling legend Jason Hale, was originally published by Sustainable Brands. A Circular Economy: You’re Not in It Alone, So Why Go It Alone? This is the second in a three-part series from The Recycling [...]

Blog: There’s no time to be timid

Greetings from Abu Dhabi. As the 2019 World Ocean Summit wraps up, and I prepare to head home, I’ve settled on my mantra for the year: There’s no time to be timid. Warming waters. Acidification. Marine debris. The ocean is the pulse of our planet and it needs our help.  We know that climate ch[...]

Resource Recycling Op-ed: Where it’s At

The following op-ed was penned by The Recycling Partnership’s VP of Industry Collaboration Dylan de Thomas and was originally published by Resource Recycling. Read the original article here. For a long time, the story of recycling has been purported to be simple – you just have to do X and i[...]

Sonoco Partners With The Recycling Partnership

National nonprofit The Recycling Partnership proudly welcomes global packaging provider Sonoco as its newest funding partner. The two organizations are strongly aligned in their commitment to improving the world for people and communities through meaningful recovery of materials and reductions in gr[...]

Companies Try Boosting Demand for Recycled Plastics

This article was originally published by Bloomberg on Nov. 29, 2017. The economics of plastic recycling have suddenly been upended, thanks to a Chinese import ban and cheap U.S. oil used to make virgin plastic. That’s made recycled plastic suddenly more expensive than virgin plastic and made it mo[...]

Heineken USA Blog: A Win For Recycling

This article originally appeared on Heineken USA’s blog on Aug. 2, 2017.  To the great people of Europe: thanks for sharing! Teams from the top soccer leagues in the world touched down in the U.S. this summer for the fifth installment of the International Champions Cup and the competition was[...]

Massachusetts Tackles Contamination with Partnership

This article was originally published by Waste360 on May 23, 2017. Massachusetts Takes A Lead from The Recycling Partnership to Stem Contamination Most residents believed they understood the rules, as surveys showed. But when DEP tested that theory it saw a huge gap between people’s perception of [...]

ExxonMobil Joins The Recycling Partnership with $1.5 Million Commitment

Global leader ExxonMobil is the first energy company to join The Recycling Partnership, a rapidly growing national nonprofit that leverages corporate investment to transform recycling for good in hundreds of communities across the country. Through support and collaboration, ExxonMobil, along with 34[...]

Partnership Powers Progress: June Impact Report 2019

  Check out our June 2019 Impact Report and learn about the $73 million in value we have delivered to transform recycling for good. See how we are working together with communities, our funding partners, and the industry to drive change coast to coast and create a stronger economy, healthier p[...]

Download Our 2016 Annual Report

Our 2016 Annual Report highlights real-time benefits of the transformative organization’s work, focusing on year-on- year growth, systems solutions across the supply chain, and the multiplier effect that intelligently-deployed new infrastructure delivers. “Day to day, we’re always looking fo[...]

Regional Recycling Impact Workshop

The Recycling Partnership and NERC present the 2019 Regional Recycling Impact Workshop Harness the power of your program through tools for fighting contamination, education and outreach, and harmonizing your message to create a stronger recycling system throughout the 11-state region.   The North[...]

The Recycling Partnership Announces First-Ever U.S. Circular Economy Roadmap

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New “Bridge to Circularity” Report Calls for $500 Million by 2025 to Transform the U.S. Recycling System Report Emphasizes Need for Creating New Pathways to Recyclability, Unlocking Post-Consumer Material Supply, and Crafting Bold, Transformative Policies Supported by Cut[...]

Annual Report 2017

Check out what we’ve been up to this past year. Highlights of our 2017 Annual Report include: a breakdown of our three biggest city projects, updated metrics, and an impressive, ever-expanding list of our awesome funders who want to create healthier communities across the country through improved [...]

State of Curbside Report 2020

The 2020 State of Curbside Recycling report calls for these clear, integrated strategies: Substantially greater support of community recycling programs with capital funding, technical assistance, and efforts to strengthen and grow local political commitment to recycling services. New and enhanced s[...]

Guidance Issued on MRF Contracts for Local Governments

Best Management Practices report helps local recycling programs achieve long-term success Falls Church, Va. (June 24, 2020) – The contract between a local recycling program and a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) is one of the most impactful legal documents in the U.S. public recycling system. That[...]

Blog: Improving Recycling in Minnesota

Multifamily Recycling Success: How Minnesota Is Making a Difference From college dorms to apartment buildings, multifamily properties often pose unique challenges when it comes to recycling efforts. But four Minnesota communities are proving that education and outreach can have a significant impact [...]

It’s Official: Municipal Measurement Program Launched

(Falls Church, VA) On January 7, 2019, Re-TRAC Connect and The Recycling Partnership officially launched Municipal Measurement Program (MMP) to harmonize the measurement of material management programs and to provide municipalities with decision-making tools that can improve recycling program perfor[...]

Blog: Accelerate Recycling through Policy and Partnership

By Keefe Harrison, CEO Partnership is part of our name for a reason. From the start, The Recycling Partnership has believed that public-private partnerships are critical to our mission—and to our mutual success in building a resilient and responsive recycling system.  This approach is at the hear[...]

Webinar: A COVID-19 Industry Update from The Recycling Partnership

On Wednesday, May 27, The Recycling Partnership hosted a follow-up webinar with industry experts to answer the important question: What are on-the-ground impacts of the COVID-19 health crisis on recycling operations and workers? The supply chain and solid waste have both been deemed essential work i[...]

Niagara Bottling Joins The Recycling Partnership

Niagara Bottling, a driving force in packaging innovation joins The Recycling Partnership to help the rapidly growing nonprofit transform recycling in states, cities and communities across the country. By supporting The Recycling Partnership’s recycling solutions, Niagara Bottling along with 38 [...]

Harmonized Recycling

by Jill Martin, Recycling Today Simplified communication decreases contamination and confusion among residents while increasing the capture rate for curbside recyclables. Imagine trying to take a train, subway or bus system across a city where the signage, names and colors of the routes are inconsis[...]

Changing the Path Forward for Plastic

This article first appeared in GreenBiz By Juan Villar Mallagray & Samu Salo & Li Tu In response to the crisis, consumers and government regulators are putting pressure on companies to change the way they do business. Consumers want brands to use sustainable materials and some are willi[...]

Op-ed: “Global Solutions, Local Scale”

Global Solutions, Local Scale: Recycling Efforts Show Promising Path for Climate Action This op-ed written by Partnership CEO Keefe Harrison was originally published by CityFix on Aug. 10, 2017.  Now that cities can no longer rely on the U.S. federal government to take serious action on the global [...]

Coca-Cola promised to help fix recycling. Here’s how it plans to deliver

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN Business Atlanta (CNN Business) – Early last year, Coca-Cola set an ambitious goal for itself: Collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can it sells by 2030. The company has committed to making its bottles and cans out of at least 50% recycled materi[...]

What Business Wants

This article originally appeared in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Companies want to be seen as doing good for their community and the world. Charities can help — and benefit. By Megan O’Neil Keefe Harrison aspired to a life as a field biologist. In her late teens and 20s, she tagged sea turtles[...]

Waste360: Corporations to Revitalize Plastics Market

The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) has a new plan to increase demand for recyclable plastics in North America, and with help from The Recycling Partnership, it is calling upon manufacturers and retailers to make it work. Companies joining the Recycle Demand Champions initiativewill instruct[...]

The 2017 Costs of Contamination MRF Working Group Survey

In mid-2017, The Recycling Partnership surveyed its MRF Working Group to identify top contaminants and their impact at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) level. In gathering data using a matrix [Appendix 1], the surveyed group members provided detail on Labor; Facility Down Time; Disposal; Equipm[...]

Start at the Cart

This article originally appeared in the March 2018 issue of Resource Recycling magazine. by Cody Marshall and McKenna Morrigan How do you get people to recycle more? What does it take to reduce contamination? How much more high-value recyclable material can be captured through curbside programs? Now[...]

Can Recycling Bounce Back?

This article originally appeared on CityLab.com. NICOLE JAVORSKY Times have been hard for U.S. recycling since China tightened its contamination standards, and local programs are trying to adjust. “This facility is our version of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” That’s how Eileen Ka[...]

WWF Champions Sustainable Materials Management

This press release was originally published by the World Wildlife Fund on June 12, 2017. World Wildlife Fund Convenes Organizations to Enable A Global Market For Sustainable Materials Management World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today announced the Cascading Materials Vision, a platform that seeks to enabl[...]

The Recycling Partnership Teams Up With City of Chicago to Improve Recycling

This summer and through the fall, The Recycling Partnership, a national nonprofit that applies corporate partner funding to improve curbside recycling systems in cities and town across the country, will be working with Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) to improve recycling in th[...]

Op-ed: The Intersection of Profit and Purpose

The following op-ed was penned by Partnership CEO Keefe Harrison and published by The Philanthropy Journal on December 18, 2017. Read the original piece here. While society has historically relied on government and nonprofits to create solutions for our largest challenges like hunger, social injusti[...]

Webinar: COVID-19 and its Effects on Recycling

On Tuesday, March 31, The Recycling Partnership hosted a webinar for cities, states and industry partners to provide timely and comprehensive information about the state of the recycling and solid waste industry during the times of COVID-19. We heard from the leading voices at our most trusted indus[...]

Blog: Plastic IQ – Advancing Company Decision-Making on Plastics

By Ben Dixon, Partner, SYSTEMIQ & Keefe Harrison, CEO, The Recycling Partnership The challenge of plastic waste is too big to ignore and too difficult to solve alone. Good work to collectively reduce the use of virgin plastic and build recycling solutions for more types of plastics is underway. [...]

Press Release: 2017 RRC Grants Announced

Industry Collaboration Delivers More Than $80,000 For Recycling Education Grants Today, The Recycling Partnership announced the recipients of its Steve Thompson Memorial Education Grants program to bring more than 50 recycling professionals from across the U.S. to Minneapolis for the 2017 Resource R[...]

Bridge to Circularity

It’s time to develop a circular economy for packaging in the U.S. We’re launching several new initiatives to start building the Bridge to Circularity, including Recycling 2.0 – an opportunity for all stakeholders to collaborate to develop the recycling system of the future.

China’s ban on scrap imports a boon to US recycling plants

This story originally appeared in The Washington Post By Mary Esch | AP May 18 ALBANY, N.Y. — The halt on China’s imports of wastepaper and plastic that has disrupted U.S. recycling programs has also spurred investment in American plants that process recyclables. U.S. paper mills are expan[...]

A Tribute to Steve Thompson a True Leader

We are saddened to report Steve Thompson died suddenly last week. Steve was a recycling champion, a mentor to many, a member of our family for more than a decade as Executive Director, and an intensely valued friend to the industry. Steve held a vision for improved recycling and his leadership, thro[...]

Americans Strongly Believe in Recycling

Congressional Webinar: Recycling 101 & Impacts of COVID-19 New survey data from The Recycling Partnership and SWNS confirms that 85% of Americans strongly believe in recycling. This is especially timely as we all navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on communities and recycling busines[...]

Coastal Community Recycling Grant

We are not currently accepting applications for this grant program. Marine debris is a global crisis for our waterways and oceans and an imminent concern for communities and industries. By 2050, it is estimated that there will be more marine debris than fish in our ocean and 80 percent of marine deb[...]

Article: “All the ways recycling is broken—and how to fix them”

This article was originally published by Fast Company on April 4, 2019. To read the original, click here. [Photo: Recycling Partnership] A nonprofit called the Recycling Partnership gives cities grants for supplies like recycling bins along with consulting to help expand recycling, funded by [...]

First-Ever Can Capture RFP Announced for MRFs in Southeastern U.S.

The Recycling Partnership Joins CMI as Grant Program Partner to Evaluate Proposals and Provide Technical Assistance for Projects that Target Missorted or Lost Cans at Recycling Centers in the Southeast FALLS CHURCH, Va (JAN. 26, 2021) – The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and The Recycling P[...]

Mayor Brown Launches “Let’s Do This Together!”

BUFFALO – Today, Mayor Byron W. Brown announced that the City of Buffalo, in partnership with The Recycling Partnership, will sponsor a Multi-Unit Apartment Building Recycling Initiative called “Let’s Do This Together!”. The six-month pilot initiative aims to initially increase recycling col[...]

The Recycling Partnership Announces Results of Annual Board Election

FALLS CHURCH, VA (July 20, 2021) – The newly-elected Board Directors of The Recycling Partnership bring unmatched sustainability and industry knowledge, and business expertise to help lead The Partnership’s work to transform the U.S. recycling system and activate a circular economy for packaging[...]

City of Arvada Rolls out New Waste & Recycling Program

The City will begin rolling out new recycling carts for residents between June 7 and June 26 as it officially launches its residential waste and recycling collection service in early July 2021. The City of Arvada’s Waste and Recycling Program provides low cost recycling to residents who are partic[...]

Blog: Our future depends on our actions. So, what are we wasting for?

By The Recycling Partnership Team We live on a planet that is well known for having finite resources (and yes, some renewable ones, many of which we’re depleting at a rate that surpasses the rate of replacement).  If we keep buying things that are made out of these finite and depleting resources,[...]

Watch: “Recycling – Video Games”

Part of The Partnership’s “It’s All You” campaign for the City of Chicago, this video shows adults and kids alike how everyday recycling can make a big impact – like saving the world.

Blog: Start at the Cart™: Key Concepts for Influencing Behavior

Recycling is many things. It is both a noun and a verb. To a waste professional it may be the collection and diversion of tons of marketable materials. To community members, recycling is an easy way to waste less and to contribute to the greater good. When asked about recyclables, however, most mist[...]

Resource Recycling Op-ed: Where it’s At

The following op-ed was penned by The Recycling Partnership’s VP of Industry Collaboration Dylan de Thomas and was originally published by Resource Recycling. Read the original article here. For a long time, the story of recycling has been purported to be simple – you just have to do X and i[...]

Sonoco Partners With The Recycling Partnership

National nonprofit The Recycling Partnership proudly welcomes global packaging provider Sonoco as its newest funding partner. The two organizations are strongly aligned in their commitment to improving the world for people and communities through meaningful recovery of materials and reductions in gr[...]

Heineken USA Blog: A Win For Recycling

This article originally appeared on Heineken USA’s blog on Aug. 2, 2017.  To the great people of Europe: thanks for sharing! Teams from the top soccer leagues in the world touched down in the U.S. this summer for the fifth installment of the International Champions Cup and the competition was[...]

Massachusetts Tackles Contamination with Partnership

This article was originally published by Waste360 on May 23, 2017. Massachusetts Takes A Lead from The Recycling Partnership to Stem Contamination Most residents believed they understood the rules, as surveys showed. But when DEP tested that theory it saw a huge gap between people’s perception of [...]

ExxonMobil Joins The Recycling Partnership with $1.5 Million Commitment

Global leader ExxonMobil is the first energy company to join The Recycling Partnership, a rapidly growing national nonprofit that leverages corporate investment to transform recycling for good in hundreds of communities across the country. Through support and collaboration, ExxonMobil, along with 34[...]

Expediting Circularity through U.S. Plastics Pact

Plastic pollution is a global crisis. To confront this emergency in the U.S., industry leaders recognized that individual action would not be enough; transformative, systemwide change is required to establish a path toward a circular economy for plastic. Founded as a solutions-driven consortium by T[...]

Improving MRF Infrastructure to Increase Can Capture

Aluminum cans are among the most widely accepted packages for recycling. Within the packaging industry, they have leading recycled content rates and are consistently among the most valuable materials by weight in the recycling stream. However, according to Can Manufacturers Institute research, up to[...]

Empowering People to Recycle Right

If every home in the U.S. had convenient access to recycling, more than half of recyclable material would still be lost. Why? Because most Americans are confused about what and how to recycle. No recycling system performs at a high level without winning the hearts and minds of consumers to use it pr[...]

Big City Modernization in Baltimore

The Partnership’s unique model of bringing communities and funding partners together, creates meaningful opportunities to drive large scale change in big cities. Prior to the fall of 2021, Baltimore, Maryland, residents lacked a consistent solution for recycling access, making it difficult for the[...]

Closing the Equity Gap through the Recycling Inclusion Fund

Our research shows that recycling services disadvantage certain streets, neighborhoods, and housing types along socioeconomic lines. Nearly 40 million U.S. residents lack the same level of access to recycling as they have to garbage service. That access gap is even larger for residents of multifamil[...]

Driving Packaging Strategies with Plastic IQ

As U.S. companies seek to reduce waste, meet sustainability goals, and stay competitive, many are committing to ambitious packaging strategies designed to end plastic waste. But not all companies have data-driven resources to define these strategies. Plastic IQ is a free, digital strategy-building t[...]

Overcoming Recycling Challenges through Coalitions

When a package or material does not meet the criteria for recyclability (see page 23, Pathway to Circularity), companies are encouraged to take action. Coalitions can address the recycling challenges of today and consider solutions for the challenges of tomorrow. The Partnership currently leads thre[...]

Creating Clarity on the Pathway to Circularity

Navigating the recycling system has historically been challenging, in part because there are no widely accepted recyclability standards. Our Pathway to Circularity for Packaging, another example of collaboration to solve a complex challenge, was created to wash away the gray and bring necessary clar[...]

Scaling Statewide Transformation in Michigan

The state of Michigan established the goal of increasing statewide recycling from 14% in 2019 to 45% by 2030. To reach this target, the state increased funding for recycling support, leading to a multiyear collaboration between the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) [...]

Expanding Equitable Recycling Access in Orlando

When it comes to recycling access, multifamily communities are among the most underserved in the U.S. Members of the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) community are approximately twice as likely to live in multifamily housing as non-BIPOC community members. That’s why The Partnership [...]

Improving the Quality of Recyclables in Orange County

When it comes to capturing the different materials that enter the U.S. residential recycling system, it is as important for residents to know what cannot be recycled as it is to know what can be recycled. Excessive contamination can cause a host of problems once the material is collected. The curbsi[...]

Scaling System Solutions for Action and Impact in the U.S. and Beyond

A “Do-ers” Reflection on Stockholm+50 & the United Nations Ocean Conference  by Keefe Harrison (she/her/hers) , CEO, The Recycling Partnership There is a palpable sense of urgency for environmental action. And it’s not just that we can feel it, we can see it.   The next generati[...]

Blog: The EPA Needs to Take Action Now on Recycling

By Dylan de Thomas Vice President of External Affairs The Recycling Partnership For many Americans, recycling is second nature. It’s something that we can’t imagine living without. The ethos of “waste not, want not” runs deep in our collective conscience. We feel bad when we throw something [...]

Addressing the Challenge of Film and Flexible Packaging Data

Film and flexible packaging is unlike other packaging when it comes to recycling. For starters, it’s not a single packaging type – the term encompasses a wide range of packaging, from polyethylene (PE) air pillows protecting e-commerce goods to heavy-duty dog food bags, to salty snack bags with [...]

Blog: Catalyzing System Change – Recycling Inclusion Fund

By Jessica Levine A mentor once asked me, “What is your wildest dream?” I told her I wanted to be a catalyst for change. I discovered my passion for environment and sustainability during my senior year of high school. Very quickly, I began to immerse myself in academic studies related to the fie[...]

It’s Time to Come to our System Senses 

I just hopped off the stage at Circularity ’22 and a few things stand out to me about this national drive to improve recycling and launch a circular economy.  Clearly people are frustrated that recycling hasn’t fixed the waste problem yet.  But before we jump to recycling’s failings, let’[...]

Tackling Contamination – Say What You Want

By Elizabeth Schussler, Sr Dir Social Change, Behavior and Impact Trying to fight contamination in your local recycling program? Ask specifically for what you want (or don’t want). Our research shows that much of contamination can be solved by telling residents exactly how to recycle properly. (Wa[...]

BLOG: What Helps People Better Understand Recycling Instructions?

Know What to Throw When educating around what goes in – or doesn’t go in a recycling cart – messaging space is limited and attention spans are short. The Recycling Partnership recently set out to identify best practices for signage and mailers to help determine how to communicate the most effe[...]

Article: Setting Up A Systems Solution

This article, co-written by The Recycling Partnership’s VP of Industry Collaboration Dylan de Thomas and Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s Senior Manager Trina Matta, was originally published in Resource Recycling on June 29, 2017. Late last year, The Recycling Partnership and Sustainabl[...]

Jason Hale: “How We’re Fixing a Broken System”

This article, written by The Recycling Partnership’s former VP of Communications and recycling legend Jason Hale, was originally published by Sustainable Brands. The Recycling Partnership: How We’re Fixing a Broken System This is the third in a three-part series from The Recycling Partn[...]

Blog: A Corporate Perspective Turned Inside Out

Featuring Sarah Dearman and Steph Kersten-Johnston We’ve recently welcomed two new staff members who have joined us from the corporate world: Sarah Dearman, formerly Sustainable Packaging Program Director at Coca-Cola North America, is now our new VP of New Ventures; Steph Kersten-Johnston, forme[...]

Case Study: A Look at Contamination Reduction in the State of Washington

A partnership that combined city, county, haulers, and their material recovery facility (MRF) to show the effectiveness of messaging at the curb in Spokane with amplified messaging throughout Spokane County. As with many recycling education programs, reducing contamination was the primary goal for a[...]

A $17B Investment in Recycling Will Leverage a System That Delivers Tons

By Keefe Harrison CEO, The Recycling Partnership It’s no secret that we at The Recycling Partnership like data. Our commitment to building and sharing robust analyses with the public and private sectors to drive recycling improvements is core to our mission. The release of our newest report is p[...]

Read Our Series in Sustainable Brands

This article, written by The Recycling Partnership’s VP of Industry Collaboration Dylan de Thomas, was originally published by Sustainable Brands. Half of a Half Equals a Whole Lot of Potential This is the first in a three-part series from The Recycling Partnership on collaborating to drive [...]

Hale: “You’re Not in it Alone, So Why Go it Alone?”

This article, written by The Recycling Partnership’s former VP of Communications and recycling legend Jason Hale, was originally published by Sustainable Brands. A Circular Economy: You’re Not in It Alone, So Why Go It Alone? This is the second in a three-part series from The Recycling [...]

Blog: There’s no time to be timid

Greetings from Abu Dhabi. As the 2019 World Ocean Summit wraps up, and I prepare to head home, I’ve settled on my mantra for the year: There’s no time to be timid. Warming waters. Acidification. Marine debris. The ocean is the pulse of our planet and it needs our help.  We know that climate ch[...]

Companies Try Boosting Demand for Recycled Plastics

This article was originally published by Bloomberg on Nov. 29, 2017. The economics of plastic recycling have suddenly been upended, thanks to a Chinese import ban and cheap U.S. oil used to make virgin plastic. That’s made recycled plastic suddenly more expensive than virgin plastic and made it mo[...]