Partnership to Help Grow Recycling Efforts in Lake County

How can you take a community with good recycling and make it great? The latest partnership between the Curbside Value Partnership (CVP) and the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO) aims to find out. Beginning this fall, residents in Lake County, Illinois—who already recycle in impressive numbers—will be urged to kick up their efforts even more.

CVP is a national, invitation-only program designed to help communities grow their curbside programs through education. Since 2005, CVP has partnered with 29 communities and four states to develop, execute and measure highly effective education campaigns. SWALCO is a municipal joint action agency that serves 41 municipalities including the County of Lake and Naval Station Great Lakes, which includes approximately 230,000 households. Currently, CVP is also helping the city of Columbus bring city-wide recycling service to residents for the first time.

“CVP and SWALCO are looking forward to helping consumers get more material into their recycling containers,” said Craig Cookson, CVP board member and director, sustainability and recycling, plastics division, for the American Chemistry Council. “Many Lake County residents are already doing a great job, and we want to help them understand how they can do even better. The good news is that it’s never been easier to recycle more of the plastics and other materials we use every day.”

As part of the partnership with CVP, SWALCO and it members will implement and measure a grassroots education campaign that is designed to increase awareness for curbside recycling, grow participation and ultimately boost volume. The campaign is expected to launch this fall with planning already under way. Education tactics for the campaign are expected to include marketing, an enhanced Web and social media presence, advertising, public relations, and grassroots, community-level outreach. SWALCO will measure the impact of the campaign via the Emerge Knowledge Re-TRAC Connect data management tool.

“SWALCO is proud to partner with CVP for this important education campaign,” said Walter Willis, executive director of SWALCO. “We look forward to accessing and benefiting from the depth of CVP’s resources and expertise. We’re particularly interested in collaborating on an effective education campaign that will help us hit the 60 percent diversion goal we set for ourselves in our strategic plan. CVP will help us do this by encouraging our residents to really rethink the way they dispose of waste in their home and, by doing so, motivate them to recycle more.”

“We know that recycling is important in Lake County and that it is a community with a history of support for conservation and sustainability, at all levels, including the County Board and local elected officials, some of whom are even involved in developing our campaign,” says Steve Thompson, CVP executive director. “Despite this supportive environment there is still tremendous headroom for recycling. We want to help SWALCO’s members capture that headroom and educate their residents about all of the things they can recycle so they can do better.”

Officials plan to launch the campaign this fall, and CVP will promote best practices gleaned from the effort to communities across the country via its website (www.RecycleCurbside.org) and its new online training tool, CVP Connect (www.CVPConnect.org).

ABOUT THE CURBSIDE VALUE PARTNERSHIP

The Curbside Value Partnership (CVP) is a 501(c)(3) organization designed to grow participation in curbside recycling programs nationwide. It is the only current national program that engages all recycling stakeholders (including government, private industry, haulers and materials recovery facilities) to identify solutions to improving curbside recycling programs through education and data analysis. CVP’s goal is to launch and study education programs to increase participation in local curbside programs, and make programs more profitable and sustainable. To date, 29 communities and four states have been engaged by CVP in education campaigns. The program is currently funded by members of the Aluminum Association (Alcoa, Tri-Arrow Aluminum and Novelis), Can Manufacturers Institute (Ardagh Group, Ball Corporation, BWAY Corporation, Crown Holdings Inc., Metal Container Corporation, Rexam, Silgan Containers Corporation, Sonoco-Phoenix Inc and the Van Can Company) as well as the American Chemistry Council, Coca Cola Recycling, Grocery Manufacturers Association, International Bottled Water Association and Keep America Beautiful. Other corporate sponsors interested in impacting recycling rates in a meaningful way are always welcome. For more information, visit www.RecycleCurbside.org.

ABOUT SWALCO

The Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, Ill. (SWALCO) is a municipal joint action agency that is responsible for developing and implementing a regional solid waste management plan for its 41 municipal members including the County of Lake and Naval Station Great Lakes. Formed in 1990, SWALCO represents approximately 85 percent of the county’s population. Its mission is to implement a regional solid waste management plan; facilitate an efficient, reliable and environmentally sound waste disposal system; advise and assist its members regarding solid waste management issues; educate the public regarding implications of solid waste management options; and identify, evaluate and disseminate information regarding techniques to reduce, reuse and recycle the amount of solid waste generated. For more information, visit www.swalco.org.

This news release was submitted by The Curbside Value Partnership.