The City of Norcross and The Recycling Partnership launch citywide cart-tagging campaign to dramatically improve curbside residential recycling, part of a $15,000 grant
NORCROSS (GWINNETT COUNTY), GA (SEPTEMBER 10, 2021) – On Monday, September 13, 2021, the City of Norcross will begin checking and tagging curbside recycling bins for contaminants in a Partnership to improve the quality of recycling in single-stream curbside recycling bins by providing residents personalized and real-time curbside recycling education and feedback.
For four weeks beginning September 13, a team of trained professionals will be hitting the pavement in our neighborhoods before the recycling trucks run their routes. This team will check residents’ recycling bins or carts and leave a tag letting them know if there’s anything that doesn’t belong in the city’s curbside recycling program. Real-time Feet on the Street feedback has helped residents of Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other major cities improve their recycling habits and keep more waste out of landfills.
Developed by the circular economy national nonprofit The Recycling Partnership, Feet on the Street is intended to increase the amount of quality recyclables—items that are on the accepted list for curbside recycling and are empty and dry, so they can circulate back into the recycling system to become new products or packaging. While many items are technically recyclable, not everything can be put in a curbside bin. The size, shape, chemical makeup or cleanliness of a material can make it too low-value or difficult and dangerous to process after it’s been mixed with other items and picked up. When the off-list items are added to a curbside bin or cart, they can contaminate viable recyclables, making them unrecyclable, too. Ultimately, Feet on the Street will help our community achieve an economically efficient recycling program, reduce the number of new resources used in packaging, and improve the health of our community.
“The Recycling Partnership, with support from American Beverage Association’s Every Bottle Back initiative, is excited to work with the City of Norcross to improve the city’s recycling program, support local jobs and get Georgia manufacturers the materials they need to make new products and packaging,” said Jill Martin, Director of Community Programs at The Recycling Partnership.
“As a Platinum Green Certified community,” added Norcross Mayor Craig Newton, “Norcross is a leader on environmental stewardship. With support from The Recycling Partnership and our collection vendor, Waste Management, Feet on the Street is an opportunity for our city to lead the nation on waste diversion. When every Norcross citizen makes the decision to recycle right, together we will improve the quality, viability and safety of recyclable material coming from our bins and carts. Recycling is not only the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do.”
Feet on the Street is funded by a $15,000 grant from The Recycling Partnership, with remaining costs funded by Waste Management and the Sustainable Norcross Commission through the City of Norcross.
“Georgia’s beverage companies are thrilled to partner with the city of Norcross and The Recycling Partnership to improve the quality of the community’s recycling stream,” said Kevin Perry, president and CEO of the Georgia Beverage Association. “Together, we’re working to get more of our industry’s 100% recyclable bottles back so they are kept out of the environment and remade into new bottles, as intended, helping us achieve a true circular economy.”
For more information, including program FAQs and a full list of accepted curbside items, visit norcrossga.net/feetonthestreet.
For more information on the City of Norcross, please visit norcrossga.net.
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ABOUT THE CITY OF NORCROSS
Incorporated in 1870, the City of Norcross has been very busy securing a solid standing as both an eco-conscious community and world-class art district in the near century and a half since. Voted Gwinnett County’s “Best Arts & Cultural Scene” by Gwinnett Magazine, Norcross has become well known for its unconventional public arts projects. Norcross was recognized by the Atlanta Regional Commission as one of only three Platinum-Certified Green Communities in the region and was named a “Best Green Government” by Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful and “Tree City USA” by The Arbor Day Foundation. The Sustainable Norcross Commission has earned regional applause for its efforts to spearhead the city’s local pro-environment practices. The city’s famed tree canopy, 13 parks and more than 31 acres of beautifully maintained public green space serve as popular gathering spaces for residents and visitors alike. A jam-packed calendar of events and eclectic collection of shops and restaurants serve to keep the historic downtown area bustling year-round. Creative souls from all walks of life are encouraged to “come unwind” and enjoy the positive energy that earns Norcross its reputation as “a place to imagine.”
ABOUT THE RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP
The Recycling Partnership is the action agent transforming the U.S. residential recycling system for good. Our team operates at every level of the recycling value chain and works on the ground with thousands of communities to transform underperforming recycling programs and tackle circular economy challenges. As the leading organization in the country that engages the full recycling supply chain, from working with companies to make their packaging more circular and help them meet climate and sustainability goals, to working with government to develop policy solutions to address the systemic needs of the U.S. recycling system, The Recycling Partnership positively impacts recycling at every step in the process. Since 2014, the nonprofit change agent diverted 375 million pounds of new recyclables from landfills, saved 968 million gallons of water, avoided more than 420,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases, and drove significant reductions in targeted contamination rates. Learn more at recyclingpartnership.org
ABOUT EVERY BOTTLE BACK
The Every Bottle Back initiative is an integrated and comprehensive initiative by The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo, alongside sustainability leaders Closed Loop Partners, The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund, designed to improve plastics circularity. These efforts support individual sustainability commitments undertaken by The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo. Learn more about Every Bottle Back at www.EveryBottleBack.org.