hickoryheart Jun 22, 2006 14:10 pm

Greetings all,

I work as the Waste Reduction and Recycing Education Coordinator in a small (22,500) NE Iowa County. We have a voluntary drop off recycing program and no variable rate pricing for trash pick up. I am looking for ways to provide incentives for heistant recyclers in spite of the parameters I just mentioned. I am thinking of getting information from the trash haulers about which neighborhoods are not recycling ( i.e. where they are seeing recyclables sitting out on the curb) and developing some way of communicating with those specific households about the benefits of recycling. Ideas that have come up include: --door hangers with "....we noticed the cardboard next to your trash container.....did you know you can recycle that for free.....?" --offering a free home visit to them with some sort of free giveaways --mailing them info, or calling

We would like to hear, in their own words, why they are not recycling, and to have some personal contact. I have been cautioned, however, about the potential for offense---not wanting the homeowners to feel hounded or like someone was snooping in their trash ( we would absolutely not do that, but rather make the determination of their non-participation by what could be seen without opening up sacks in any way.) We know that if we had variable rate pricing for trash, this woud help, but the haulers are not into this. Any ideas about the advisability of this and/or ways to go about it?

Many thanks,
Heidi Swets
Decoarh, Iowa