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Press Release: Broken Arrow Rolls Out New Single-Sort Recycling and Curbside Collection Program

Residents Need to Choose Their Carts by August 4, 2020

The City of Broken Arrow, OK is pleased to announce a grant awarded by The Recycling Partnership to bring residential recycling carts and educational programming to the City. The Recycling Partnership is a national nonprofit working with communities nationwide to improve access to recycling, reduce confusion about what can be recycled, and improve the quality of recyclables.

In fall 2020, Broken Arrow will move from a disposable bag-based trash collection system to a cart-based system, with the introduction of curbside recycling. With this new and improved recycling program, taking recyclables to a separate location is no longer necessary. Instead, residents will be able to place all recyclable items directly into a recycling container conveniently located at their own home.

In July, residents will receive a mailer to select their trash cart size and to opt in or out of curbside recycling. The trash cart choices are between a 96- and 64-gallon, lidded and wheeled carts – and all recycling carts will be 96 gallons. The carts will begin arriving at residents’ homes in September with service likely to begin in October. The carts have high quality wheels for easy maneuvering and attached lids to keep recyclables dry and secure.

The City applied for and received a grant from The Recycling Partnership because of its dedication to advancing recycling in the community.  The positive results from the City’s pilot program last year indicate that residents will utilize the recycling carts, and the ease of curbside recycling will create a more sustainable city. The grant from The Recycling Partnership will help pay for a portion of the 35,500 new recycling carts and includes funding for education and outreach to residents about the new collection process.

“The Partnership is proud to partner with the City of Broken Arrow on curbside recycling carts in order to expand recycling access for residents and to make it easier to recycle,” said Cody Marshall, Chief Community Strategy Officer at The Recycling Partnership. “We are thrilled to offer our support, funded in part by the American Beverage Association, to this exciting project and look forward to working with Broken Arrow to learn more about the City’s recycling habits, reducing confusion on what’s recyclable, supporting local jobs, and protecting the environment.”

The City is also asking residents to prepare for the introduction of curbside recycling by reviewing RecycleBA.com for an explanation of what can be recycled. These items include glass bottles and jars, aluminum and steel cans, food, and beverage cartons, paper products (including newspapers and flattened cardboard), and empty plastic bottles and containers. To help limit trash and other non-recyclables in the recycling carts, empty food and drink containers and then place them directly into the recycling cart—no bagging of items needed.

Some items that cannot be recycled include plastic bags, paper towels, pizza boxes, electrical equipment, batteries, and clothing. These items often get placed into recycling carts because of “wishcycling,” or the wish that they can be recycled.  But well-intentioned, non-recyclable items cause serious issues in recycling facilities including equipment malfunction, unsafe work conditions, and possibility of fires.

For more information on what can and can’t go into the cart along, with informational videos and timelines, visit RecycleBA.com or contact Recycling Outreach Coordinator Mackenzie Jones at mkjones@brokenarrowok.gov.

About The Recycling Partnership 

The Recycling Partnership (recyclingpartnership.org) is a national nonprofit organization that leverages corporate partner funding to transform recycling for good in states, cities and communities all across the U.S. As the only organization in the country that engages the full recycling supply chain from the corporations that manufacture products and packaging to local governments charged with recycling to industry end markets, haulers, material recovery facilities, and converters; The Recycling Partnership positively impacts recycling at every step in the process. The Recycling Partnership has served more than 1,500 communities and counting with best-in-class tools, data, resources and technical support, helped place more than 700,000 recycling carts, reached 74 million American households, and helped companies and communities invest more than $57 million in recycling infrastructure. In doing so, The Recycling Partnership has created meaningful social, environmental, and economic change. By the end of 2019, the nonprofit change agent estimates it diverted 230 million pounds of new recyclables from landfills, saved 465 million gallons of water, avoided more than 250,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases, and driven significant reductions in targeted contamination rates.