Who We Are

Our Founding Story

The Recycling Partnership was created from a simple conviction: protecting the places we care about means rethinking how we use and reuse our resources. 

In 2014, our founder, Keefe Harrison, recognized that recycling’s biggest challenges weren’t caused by a lack of commitment—they were the result of a fragmented system. No single community, company, or policymaker could solve them alone. 

Together with a small group of equally determined changemakers who shared her belief that better systems create better outcomes, Keefe founded The Recycling Partnership. Her vision was ambitious: unite communities, companies, policymakers, recyclers, and other partners around practical solutions that strengthen the entire recycling system. 

That collaborative spirit shaped the organization from day one. Rather than simply studying the system or advocating for change, The Recycling Partnership rolled up its sleeves to work alongside the people building it—connecting data with action and bringing together unlikely partners to drive real, tangible impact. Today, that founding vision has grown into one of the nation’s leading nonprofits dedicated to transforming recycling.

More than a decade later, the belief that inspired our founding continues to guide our work: it takes all of us to build a recycling system that works better—for people, for businesses, and for the planet.