During the 2016 holiday season, the City of St. Paul, Minnesota, delivered a special present to every household: a 64-gallon recycling cart. The city’s aggressive timeline put nearly 80,000 carts on the ground within two months. The Recycling Partnership supported the roll-out with grant dollars, technical assistance, and educational resources.
In addition to rolling out carts, the city revamped its acceptable materials representation, paring down eight categories used to depict and describe curbside recyclables to just three. These three categories – containers, papers, and boxes – simplified the message, boosted participation, and aided in material recovery. The first year after rolling out carts, St. Paul recovered an average of 50 more pounds per household than in bins.
