If you happened to find yourself thinking, “It’s never been this hot over Memorial Day weekend,” simply put: You were right.By nearly any measure, Fort Wayne’s new recycling program has been a success.
Participation has more than doubled, monthly fees have dropped by $1.29 since 2010, and more and more waste is being diverted from the landfill.
Yet recycling participation varies widely across the city. Northeast and southwest areas have been most aggressive in signing up for the new carts, while the southeast area appears to be lagging behind the rest of the city.
Data released last week by Fort Wayne Public Works reveal recycling participation by ZIP code. The participation by ZIP code ranged from 46 percent to 80 percent, according to the study, which city officials said doesn’t include homes added since Thanksgiving.
The numbers are based on homes that have signed up for the program and do not reflect how much or how often those homes recycle – information the city does not yet have available.
Matt Gratz, solid waste director, said that under the new program, even the lower-participating areas of the city far exceed participation in the city’s old two-bin system. Back then, he said there were some routes that collected recycled materials from only 12 percent to 15 percent of homes, and citywide participation was 34 percent – it is currently 71 percent.
In January 2011, the city started its new one-cart recycling program. This allowed residents to get one 48-gallon or 96-gallon cart to place all their materials to recycle. It replaced the old system in which people had to separate paper products from glass, plastic and metal into two small bins. In addition, the new program accepts more types of materials to recycle.
In December, the city received more than 1,200 tons of materials to recycle, the most ever. Even with the success, Gratz said the city will continue trying to reach homes without carts.
“We want to keep promoting the program every year,” he said.
Highs and lows
Kevin Vail said it’s easy to tell when it’s recycling day in his neighborhood. The yellow-lid carts are lined up on almost every driveway, according to the former president of the Eagle Creek Neighborhood Association.
“It seems like we got a lot of them,” he said of the carts.
Eagle Creek, on the far-southwest side of the city, is part of ZIP code 46814, the area with the highest participation in Fort Wayne. In the ZIP code, which also includes Sycamore Hills, 80 percent of eligible residents have signed up to recycle.
Vail said high participation makes sense because of the ease of the new program. While he did participate in the two-bin system, he said he would sometimes worry about filling the bins too full because the wind could blow materials away.
Plus he said, the new carts don’t require him to sort anymore.
“It’s amazing how much stuff you can put in there with very little work,” he said. “You just toss it in the bin and you’re good to go.”
Areas with nearly as high participation include 46815 and 46845 with 78 percent.
High participation isn’t found everywhere, however.
A few ZIP codes in southeast Fort Wayne have less than 50 percent of eligible homes with a recycling cart.
In 46806, participation is at 46 percent, and it is just slightly better – 47 percent – in neighboring 46803. Participation does jump above 60 percent in 46816 and 46807, which also are in that quadrant.
William Crowley, chairman of the southeast area neighborhood partnership, said part of the problem may be the high number of rental homes in the area. He said one of his relatives owns a dozen rental homes and only one tenant recycles.
“I don’t see one at every household,” he said. “For some reason there aren’t as many people participating as I would like.”
Crowley said he recycles more than he did under the old program, noting it’s much easier to use the large cart. He said he was hopeful the city could target landlords and tenants to teach them about the program.
Filling the gaps
The disparity in participation wasn’t surprising to Joe Suleyman, operations manager with National Serv-All. The company collects, sorts and sells materials recycled by city residents.
He said current participation rates mirror those in the past – highly active neighborhoods continue to be so, while struggling ones continue to lag.
The city plans to use its new information on participation to directly target areas lagging behind the city average. This could include postcards, bus wraps or other advertising. The city gets $100,000 annually from Serv-All to spend on education, and Gratz said it will spend all of that annually.
Having people recycle more and eliminate contaminants has a direct financial benefit to the city as well. Fort Wayne received half of the profits from the materials its residents recycle – estimated to top $500,000 annually.
Suleyman said while the city is at 70 percent participation now, there is no reason to think it can’t hit 80 percent or higher, especially because of how quickly people have taken to the program.
He said participation has exceeded everyone’s expectation, which likely is because of how easy it is to recycle. This includes having a single large bin and changing the rules to allow residents to store their containers outside.
“They took all the excuses away not to participate,” he said.
