The City of Whiting, Indiana’s Street Department changed their collection process to increase recycling in the community, reducing expenses by $75,000 in the program’s first year. Launched in 2006, this program is referred to as the Alley Recycling Program. The City made two major changes to the preceding recycling process—it increased the size of the recycling totes and through changes to the process, reduced the effort required of residents and City employees.
| Action | Applicable Resources |
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Upgrade city and community equipment
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Consult residents, haulers, owners, and operators of waste management facilities, including reuse and recycling facilities, and other entities
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In 2006, taxes were reassessed across Indiana causing a decrease in the City of Whiting’s budget. In response, the City searched for opportunities to reduce expenses. Much of the trash going to the landfill at the time was recyclable. It was free to recycle, and trash disposal cost approximately $45 per ton. That same year, City officials created the Alley Recycling Program to reduce the mass of trash going to the landfill and save money on waste disposal.
Recycling provides value to communities and the environment. Recycling reduces waste sent to landfills and incinerators—both contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, toxins and leachate. Leachate is liquid that absorbs harmful chemicals as it seeps through the contents of a landfill, contaminating the surrounding environment and waterways. Recycling also conserves natural resources, strengthens economic security, reduces pollution caused by collecting raw materials, reduces energy usage, contributes to American manufacturing industries and creates jobs.
Prior to the Alley Recycling Program, recyclables had to be separated by hand, either by residents or the pick-up crew. By the time the Alley Recycling Program began in 2006, the private hauler had converted to a materials recovery facility (MRF) and used technology to separate recyclables before processing. This change allowed the company to handle single-stream commingled recyclables, processing more recyclables with less effort.
Lastly, Whiting’s numerous alleys had to be considered when designing the Program. Because most residents and businesses do not have driveways, the curbs are usually lined with parked cars. The presence of the cars made curbside pick-up challenging, as the garbage/recycling collectors had to navigate around the cars to collect and return the totes to the curb. The alleys, in contrast, were clear of cars and easily accessible by garbage/recycling collectors and businesses and residents.
First, the City commissioned one of their garbage trucks to be professionally repainted to reflect the image of a recycling truck—the back was repainted green, and the sides were repainted to say “Whiting Recycling”.
Once this recycling truck was online, the City’s Public Works employees distributed 65-gallon lidded recycling totes, manufactured by Rehrig Pacific Company, to each residential household, apartment building and commercial business at no cost.
Lastly, the City reached out to residents to educate them about the new recycling procedures. Outreach efforts were made using the City of Whiting website, recycling newsletters delivered door-to-door, a mayor’s forum, in a local newspaper and water bill inserts. Additionally, the City had instructions printed directly onto the lid of each recycling tote.
The City received a grant from the Recycling Market Development Program through the Indiana Department of Environmental Management with a 50% required match provided by the school district. The purpose of the grant funding was to promote waste reuse, reduction and recycling. The grant helped pay for one garbage truck to be repainted as a recycling truck, community outreach and education, and new, 65-gallon recycling totes for each residential household, apartment building and commercial business in the City. Converting a garbage truck to a recycling truck saved the city the cost of a new recycling truck—approximately $100,000 to $150,000.
The Alley Recycling Program took approximately six months from planning to launch.
Previously, residents were required to carry the recycling from the alleys out to the curb on collection day. The new recycling procedures asked residents to keep the 65-gallon totes in alleys. This process made it easier for residents to add recyclable items throughout the week and made collection more efficient for City employees. City workers collect recyclables once per week from alleys. This new process made recycling more convenient for residents and businesses who no longer needed to keep track of collection schedules. The larger totes permitted more materials to be recycled without taking up more space or requiring more labor. Comingling meant that neither residents nor the recycling collectors had to separate recyclables.
Community surveys from the Program’s first year indicate that more than 80% of residents recycled, an increased compared to previous years, and the amount of material recycled increased 40%. The decrease in landfill-bound trash allowed the City to convert one of their garbage trucks into a recycling truck. The increase in recycling saved the City $75,000 in 2006.
Because Whiting began using the services of a materials recovery facility, City workers no longer had to spend time sorting the recycling. The time-savings allowed the City to reemploy one employee from the garbage/recycling route to the Street Department.
Holidays and poor weather conditions no longer affect the City’s collection schedule. Since the totes are always located in their pick-up location, City employees resume the collection route at their discretion without needing to conform to strict schedules or inform the community of changes.
In 2007, Whiting won the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns Community Achievement award for their Alley Recycling Program.
Ten years after the Program launched, the City has had to order very few replacement totes. They are durable enough to remain reliable over time.
The biggest challenge the City experienced with the Alley Recycling Program was educating the public. Anytime municipalities make a change to a public process, it is important that the City invests in buy-in from residents and commercial businesses to ensure an improved outcome.
In subsequent years, Whiting has implemented educational programs to continually remind residents how to avoid cross-contamination of trash and recycling. The City has used door hangers and notes to educate individual residents or businesses as needed.
City of Whiting Director of Green Initiatives Mark Harbin stated, "If I had to do it all over again, I would distribute 96-gallon totes instead of 65-gallon totes. At the time, we did not anticipate that the community would increase their recycling volume as much as they did. However, if any resident or business has more items to recycle than one tote will accommodate, the City will bring them an additional tote at no cost. Some businesses have up to 10 recycling totes.”
