“The biggest problem in trash management is people bagging recycling in plastic bags. If you get a whole truck full of bagged recycling that truck’s probably going to be rejected,” Karen Day, operations specialist for the Town of Blacksburg Public Works Department said.
But recently, residents of Blacksburg just got a whole lot savvier about their recycling, thanks to a new educational campaign offered by the town in partnership with the Canadian company, Recycle Coach.
The campaign, called “The Coachlings and the Big Problem with Plastic Bags” ran this fall and educated residents about one of the biggest issues facing recycling programs today – plastic bag contamination.
“Recycle Coach is a company out of Canada. A program we signed up for they’re helping us with education. You have to keep at it,” Day said.
The campaign consisted of an entry survey to test residents’ baseline knowledge, educational content that included animated and text-based videos, infographics, a blog, and more, and an exit survey to measure knowledge gain.
The campaign’s message was simple: stop bagging your recyclables.
Of the 650 participants, 10 percent initially indicated that they do bag their recyclables, contributing to contamination of Blacksburg’s recycling stream.
But by the campaign’s end, they all agreed to stop bagging their recyclables.
All recycling must be kept loose in the carts. In fact, no bags of any kind are allowed.
Consider that someone would need to empty the bags, which is time consuming and adding plastic bags just generates more waste.
Because recycling is less expensive than transh, Day said the town would like to reward people for recycling.
“Right now, recycling is about 10$ less a ton than trash. For 54.50/ton trash and for recycling $30.50/ton. Quite a savings.”
But the town doesn’t keep track of who recycles, but when Waste Industries took over recyclable collection and distributed recycling carts, it was clear people were recycling.
“We don’t audit how much people recycle per household. But when Waste Industries took over everybody got a recycling bin. People called to say “take them back, we don’t recycle”. Day estimates 10-12 households didn’t recycle. Many more households called to say “bring more” bins.
Following the Coachling education, 94 percent of residents agreed they were more confident about how to dispose of plastic bags, 99 percent agreed to advocate for their recycling program by sharing best practices with friends and families, and 99 percent agreed that they now understood the impact of plastic bag contamination on recycling.
Ninety-two percent of residents expressed interest in completing more campaigns like Coachlings and the Big Problem with Plastic Bags in the future.
“This is an exceptional way of approaching residents with information that’s usually boring and overly complex. Kudos to Blacksburg for innovating,” a resident said.
Day advise that the bags you get from Kroger or Food Lion have to go back to Kroger or Food Lion. Plastic bags may become a thing of the past.
“Plus,” she said. “Kroger is phasing out their plastic bags and I think people are more aware of reusable bags.”
All residents who participated in the campaign entry and exit surveys were eligible to win a Coachling: a character that help teach people about recycling.
A winner has been drawn and will be announced on Feb. 28. Blacksburg residents who have not completed the campaign yet are encouraged to do so at https://campaigns.recyclecoach.com/blacksburg-landing.
On the town’s recycling website, a tool allows you to type in the name of the thing you want to recycle like, “milk jug” to learn what’s accepted and what’s not.
